Mumbai: India gold buying eased on Friday after a four-day pick-up as traders waited for lower prices to stock for festivals next month, and premiums are expected to inch higher driven by continued lower-level buying, dealers said.

“Sales today are in less quantity compared to previous days, I did 25-30 deals, in all 150 kgs between $1,160-1,168 (an ounce) yesterday evening,” said a dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai.

International gold was trading a tad higher at $1,170.25/1,170.90 an ounce at 3:33pm, as against the previous close of $1,168.05/1,169.05.

Gold was steady in early European trade as investors awaited US second quarter GDP data to find out more about the health of the world’s largest economy.

Dealers said premiums charged on the market price of the yellow metal could inch higher on the back of contiued offtake from the world’s largest consumer of bullion.

“It’s a seller’s market now, for 4 buyers there is only one seller, demand-driven premium would be witnessed in coming days,” said Pinakin Vyas, assistant vice-president with IndusInd Bank, a large gold importer.

Gold premiums rose to $1.50 an ounce as against $1.10/1.20 in the previous session.

Provisionally, India’s imports for July stood at 14-15 tonnes, down from 28.4 tonnes in the year-ago period, but a spurt in demand has raised chances of an upward revision.

Indian gold demand is set to pick up for the busy festival season, starting with Raksha Bandhan on 24 August, and extending till Dhanteras in November, the single-biggest gold buying day.