Customers buy ornaments at a showroom at Dakbungalow roundabout on Monday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Jewellery shops in the city are attending to customers by the dozen since Saturday when gold prices fell in the bullion market.

The Rs 1,250 per 10 gram fall in gold prices brought the yellow metal’s worth down to Rs 28,600 per 10gm. Rejoicing at the slide are residents who have weddings coming up in the family and others who are planning ahead for Akshay Tritiya. It is considered auspicious to buy gold on the festival, which falls on May 12 this year.

Kadamkuan resident Anjali Singh’s son is getting married next month. As soon as the gold price plunged, she rushed to the nearby store without wasting a minute. Singh said: “It has been a long wait for me. My shopping list for the glittering metal is complete. It was a fair and cheap deal for me this wedding season.”

“On Akshay Tritiya this year, I plan to buy a gold coin. Last year, I ended up buying silver Lakshmi Ganesh idols because of the skyrocketing price of gold,” said Nutan Sinha, a resident of Boring Road.

The chief executive officer of Hira Panna Jewellers at Dakbungalow roundabout, Shekhar Keshari, said footfall at the shop went up throughout Monday, as the price of 22-carat gold crashed to around Rs 2,845 per gm against last week’s Rs 3,000 per gm.

In one week, the price of gold has fluctuated between Rs 2,900 and Rs 2,700 per gram.

Hira Panna’s Keshari said: “The sales are still not up to the mark in accordance with the sliding price of gold. The flexibility has left the buyers in a dilemma. Sudden rise in the footfall at walk-in stores reveals the buyers are still making up their mind.”

He, however, said: “It is too early to say if gold prices would drop more. It would take three-four more days for the price to gain stability.”

Sachin Gupta, proprietor, Guinea Jewellers, Boring Road, said: “There is huge panic in the international market. It would take four to five days as far as stability in prices is concerned.”

Of the sales at the shop, he said: “There has been 25 to 30 per cent increase in sale. On Friday, the customers were unmanageable.” The stores, though, have enough stock to match the demand of the customers. Gupta attributed the demand to drop in making charges too.

“Our making charges are decided according to the price of gold. The sudden fall in the price of gold has automatically lowered the making charges. The low making charges is also a reason for the high demand for the metal,” he said.

However, the residents who bought gold as investment are alarmed. Arun Sinha, who bought gold last Friday at Rs 2,895 per gm, said: “Buying gold is an investment for us. Unaware that the price would plunge by the hour, I bought some physical gold. Now, the crashing price of gold has alarmed me.”