Indian gold traders stepped back from the markets

India gold traders stayed away on Friday afternoon, as a weaker rupee made the dollar-quoted yellow metal expensive, dealers said.

"I have done minimal deals from morning as even the rupee is not in supporting mode," said a dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai, which imports bullion.

The most-active gold contract MAUc1 edged higher by 0.20 percent higher at 20,406 rupees per 10 grams at 2:00 p.m., helped by a weak rupee. The contract had struck an intra-day high of 20,412 rupees earlier in the session.

"If gold breaches below 20,000 rupees, we may see some buying interest," said another dealer with a private bullion importing bank.

The Indian rupee extended its fall to 10-week lows tracking a more than 1 percent drop in domestic shares while bunched up dollar demand a day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, also weighed.

India's gold market is still in the midst of its busy season after the Dhanteras and Diwali festivals earlier this month as many weddings are to take place till December, when demand for the yellow metal tends to go up.

In the quarter to September, India imported 214 tonnes of gold, up 21.6 percent on year, the WGC said.

Following were the prices being quoted by HDFC Bank in rupees in the spot market at 1:15 p.m. INBULL03:

Friday Thursday

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Gold .999/10 grams 20,550 20,553

Silver .999/kg 42,980 40,118

Following were prices in rupees on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. at 2:00 p.m. <0#MAU:>:

Contract Current price Net change

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Dec gold 20,406 +41

Dec silver 41,656 -136

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