Gold traders wait for price falls before re-stocking

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Gold traders in India, the world's biggest buyer of the metal, awaited bigger price falls before re-stocking, even as prices consolidated in a recent range. Silver edged lower.

* Gold imports into India fell about 81 percent in June from the previous month after the government raised import duty and stopped consignment imports.

* "Demand is low as everyone is anticipating that gold prices will fall," said Ketan Shroff, director at Mumbai-based wholesaler Penta Gold.

* Gold prices were a tad higher in line with overseas leads.

* At 1059 GMT, the actively traded gold for August delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was 0.12 percent higher at 26,689 Indian rupees per 10 grams. The contract has been trading in the range of 26,240-26,925 rupees since July 11.

* Global gold came off an intraday low and was on track for its second weekly gain, boosted by a rally in Tokyo bullion futures on a weaker yen and speculative buying ahead of an election in Japan at the weekend.

* Investors were waiting for leads from the rupee, which plays an important role in determining the landed cost of the dollar-quoted yellow metal.

* Silver for September delivery on the MCX was 0.31 percent lower at 40,349 rupees per kilogram.

(Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar; Editing by Jijo Jacob)