India flips to premium, Lunar New Year sparks buying in other hubs

By Rajendra Jadhav and Harshit Verma

(Reuters) - Physical gold dealers in India charged premiums this week for the first time in four months encouraged by a pick-up in purchases as local prices eased, while the approaching Lunar New Year festival boosted activity in China and elsewhere.

"Demand, especially for coins and bars, has seen a slight uptick due to the price correction," said Ashok Jain, proprietor of Mumbai-based gold wholesaler Chenaji Narsinghji.

Local gold prices were around 62,400 rupees per 10 grams on Friday after hitting a record high of 65,040 rupees earlier this month.

The pickup in demand prompted dealers to charge premiums of up to $2 an ounce over official domestic prices - inclusive of 15% import and 3% sales levies - versus last week's $4 discounts.

Wedding season demand has slowly started gaining momentum, encouraging some jewellers to make purchases, said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private bank.

Weddings are a major driver of gold purchases in India.

In top consumer China, premiums of $36-$48 per ounce were quoted over benchmark prices ahead of the week-long Lunar New Year holidays.

"Significant movements of gold through the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) suggest the utilisation of import quotas ahead of the holiday," Bernard Sin, regional director of Greater China at MKS PAMP said.

"This trend is likely to persist upon people's return from the festivities, potentially influencing the premium further."

In Hong Kong, premiums eased to $1.50-$3.50 this week, while in Singapore, gold was sold anywhere between par to a $2.50 premium.

"We've seen some pickup in demand this week from wholesalers and some retail buying, but we will attribute this to probably the festive buying because the Lunar New Year is this weekend," said Brian Lan at Singapore dealer GoldSilver Central.

In Japan, gold changed hands at between par and a $0.5 premium.

(Reporting by Harshit Verma in Bengaluru, and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; additional reporting by Brijesh Patel; editing by Arpan Varghese and Kirsten Donovan)