NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): Even as the marriage season is on in India, households in the country are not shying away from buying gold for the weddings. In fact, people are cutting corners in other areas to buy gold for marriages in their homes.

And, gold has not lost its sheen despite sky-high prices. With festivals like Karvachauth, Dhanteras and Diwali round the corner and the wedding season kicking off this month, gold sales have increased much to the pleasure of jewellers.

The demand for gold has picked up now. Definitely, if the prices were slightly down, it would have further added to the demand.

The wedding season is here and people do not compromise on buying gold. After fluctuating since late last year, the price of gold has been hovering around Rs 15,000 per 10 gm for the last couple of months. Its price on Saturday was Rs 15,300 per 10 gm in Delhi and the highest this year was Rs 16,200.

The market sentiment has got better in the past two months. People are buying gold but because of high price, they are buying a little less. Sales are expected to go up till Christmas. Many customers also sold their jewellery in the past months to make the most of the high price. People sell jewellery which is no longer wearable and lies unused.

The increase in sales can be attributed to new trends like men buying gifts for their wives on Karvachauth which is on Wednesday and also families increasingly buying gold coins on Dhanteras instead of steel utensils.

There is speculation that the price of gold may touch Rs 17,000-18,000 per 10 gm by year-end. So the people who may have wedding in the family later in the year or early next year are already buying gold. This has also helped in pushing up the demand.