MUMBAI (Reuters) - Gold futures edged up on Thursday, hovering near their highest level in more than two months, following weakness in the rupee.
* At 3:43 p.m., the actively traded gold for August delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was 0.17 percent higher at 28,000 rupees per 10 grams.
* It hit a high of 28,186 rupees earlier in the session, not too far from a two-month high of 28,288 rupees touched on April 13.
* The rupee plays an important role in determining the landed cost of the dollar-quoted yellow metal.
* A weaker rupee, which made the yellow metal expensive, also kept physical dealers on the sidelines, weeks after the federal government hiked the import duty to 8 percent, and restricted consignment imports.
* "Market is very slow as there's not much demand," said Ketan Shroff, director with Penta Gold, a wholesaler in Mumbai.
* Gold imports into India, the world's biggest buyer of bullion, have fallen from an average of $135 million in the first half of May to $36 million the second half of the month, the finance minister said on Wednesday.
* The Indian government does not need to act as of now to further moderate gold imports as the recent steps have already had a considerable impact, a government official said on Wednesday.
* Silver for July delivery on the MCX was 0.39 percent higher at 43,718 rupees per kilogram.
(Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar; Editing by Sunil Nair)
