Having a reason that two weeks to go for the Indian festival of Akshaya Trithiya, during which it is considered auspicious to buy gold, jewellery retailers are hoping bullion prices would hint at some stability during this period.

According to Cyriac Varghese of Sky Jewellery, if values remain bound to a certain level, demand during the peak buying phase of Akshaya Trithiya could well push retailer volumes to what they would average in a good month. They are offering buyers the option to make pre-bookings and thus get a lock on values. If gold prices were to drop, then sky is the limit on what transactions would be provided the trade here gets sufficient volumes coming in, they added.

Furthermore, while Akshaya Trithiya relates to a single day this year falling on May 13  purchases usually build up three to four days ahead of it. This year, retailers hope prospective buyers will start coming in even earlier, performed by the way gold prices have been behaving in recent weeks.

Arousing a feeling of interest, leading jewellery chains are already hitting the market with dedicated campaigns such as Damas has introduced 22 new sets as part of its 2013 Akshaya Trithiya collection. While Pure Gold has its own collection and Firoz Merchant, its chairman, says that they are well-prepared and in fact have started already the promotions for the festival.

It's a gold show!

(AW:Samrat Biswas)