Mumbai: India gold demand abated on Tuesday after a slight pick-up the previous evening as traders kept to the sidelines anticipating falls ahead, dealers said.

“Yesterday, there was quiet good demand when prices were below $950 (an ounce), but today it is quiet as traders want lower prices,” said a dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai.

“We had some bookings at $945 (an ounce), we hardly sold around 50 kgs,” said Mayank Khemka, managing director, Khemka International, a large gold importer.

Spot gold was quoted at $951.65/952.20 an ounce as against the previous day’s $949.65/952.65 at 2:15pm. Gold had hit a low of 943.80 in the previous session.

Dealers said gold’s offtake would remain subdued until the inauspicious period to buy gold.

Shradh, a period of paying homage to ancestors, is from 5 September to 19 September.

“I don’t have any advance orders,” said another dealer with a private bank.

Gold imports in August provisionally slumped to between 12-14 tonnes from 98 tonnes in the same month last year as high prices and weak monsoon rains dented demand, Suresh Hundia, president of the Bombay Bullion Association, said on Tuesday.