Gold sales touch Rs 30 crore on Dhanteras

The spike in gold prices coupled with the shadow of economic meltdown failed to dampen the buying sentiment on this year's Dhanteras in Bhubaneswar with sales of the yellow metal reaching around Rs 30 crore, said trade sources.

The response of the customers in this year's Dhanteras was beyond the expectations of the dealers despite the spike in gold prices even though the actual sales at Rs 30 crore fell around 15 per cent compared to Rs 35 crore recorded in last year's Dhanteras.

“The gold sales on this year's Dhanteras has grown in value terms even though the volume of transaction has somewhat slumped due to spurt in gold prices. Tanishq has clocked a sales volume of Rs 1.2 crore on this year's Dhanteras compared to Rs 1.5 crore which we did last year on the same occasion”, Yogen Hans, dealer of the city-based Tanishq. The price of gold at around Rs 16,000 is about 40 per cent higher compared to the price of the yellow metal which hovered at Rs 11,000 during last year's Dhanteras. Mitesh Khimji, director, Khimji Jewellers Limited said, “The response from the gold buyers on this year's Dhanteras has been very good. This is contrary to our expectations as we had thought of a slide in sales due to spiralling price of gold. We have recorded a 15-20 per cent growth in our sales this year compared to last year's Dhanteras.”

The sale of gold in Berhampur on the Dhanteras day was not comparable to last year. Gold traders attributed the low sales to high prices, inflation and the prevailing economic slowdown.

“The gold sales on this year's Dhanteras have not been very encouraging and this is because of the spike in gold prices coupled with the prevailing economic meltdown. Moreover as the Dhanteras fell on Thursday, most of the Oriya customers refrained from purchasing the yellow metal”, P Satya Narayan Senapati, president of Berhampur Jewellery Association told Business Standard. The gold price in the Berhampur market has hit an all time high of Rs 16,400 (24-carat) and Rs 15,400 (22-carat) per 10 gram on Thursday. Traders, however, expected the rush in gold sales to continue till Diwali.