Akshaya Tritiya becomes a costly affair

Irresistible:With Akshaya Tritiya falling on May 16, jewellers have come up with several offers to lure customers.
HYDERABAD: The prices of the yellow metal have risen steadily rise in the last few days and the market talk has been that it could end up touching the Rs.20,000 per 10 gm mark in the coming days.
As on Wednesday, with few days left for Akshaya Tritiya, the price of 24k gold rose to Rs.18,450 per 10 gm while the 22k was found reaching Rs.16,900. “The talk in our circles happens to be that the price of 24k gold will soon cross Rs. 20,000 but I feel it might at least end up touching that figure,” says Boorugu Suryaprakash Rao, president of the A.P. Gold, Silver, Jewellery and Diamond Merchant Association.
The sales pitch is being made strongly by the jewellers with Akshaya Tritiya falling on May 16 and several appealing offers are being proffered in the process. Kirtilals has come out with an offer of advance booking with customers having the option of dropping on the Tritiya day to pick their purchase. Also, those booking between May 6 and May 15 will be charged the lowest price that prevailed during this period. “The response has been good and we are receiving quite a lot of pre-bookings for jewellery,” says Kirtilals store manager, R. Raghunath. In the last week, the gold prices have been fluctuating ranging between Rs.16,330 to Rs.16,870 per 10 gm, he observes. Similarly, GRT Jewellers too has opened bookings and is promising that those blocking their choice can pay the price of booking day even if the same goes up on Tritiya day. And in case the prices fall on that day, the difference from the day of the booking will be refunded. “Our offer also comes with Rs. 45 less per gm and the response has been very positive,” says V. Ravichandran of the GRT Jewellers. However, Mr. Suryaprakash Rao feels that gold buying on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya might not be that high this year as compared to earlier ones. “The prices fluctuations are high and varies between Rs.300 to Rs.500,” he says.
Yet, irrespective of the one day sales on this auspicious occasion, the prices could keep climbing in coming days. “Investment in gold is again going up following the happenings in share market and other global developments,” Mr. Suryaprakash Rao adds.