Trading in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) on Akshaya Tritiya was sluggish in the early part of the day but picked up pace during the special extended session on both the national stock exchanges, NSE and BSE. The buying frenzy seen during last year?s festival was, however, missing.

?The response in the morning session was a bit muted but the volumes picked up during the special session,? said Sarath Sarma, executive director, IDBI Asset Management. Added Rajnish Rastogi, senior fund manager & co-head ? equities, Motilal Oswal AMC: ?We have seen significant interest from investors and have been surprised with the volume of trade in our ETF.? The turnover in gold ETFs on the NSE stood at R53,011 lakh as of 6:55 India time, as per the exchange?s website.

Both the exchanges extended the trading hours for gold ETFs till 8 pm on Tuesday and also waived transaction charges for trading in the product. Brokers also offered some carrots to attract investors. For instance, ICICIdirect.com offered investors a discount of 50% on brokerage for investments done in Gold ETF on Tuesday besides a refund of brokerage on fortnightly and monthly SIPs in Gold ETF registered on the day.

?Despite the demand from HNIs to buy into gold ETFs, the excitement and buzz seem to be missing this year,? said Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons Wealth. Interestingly, traders of gold in India had kept themselves away from gold buying in the run-up to Akshaya Tritiya mainly due to a weaker rupee, which made imported bullion more expensive, according to a report by Angel Broking.

Lalit Nambiar, senior VP & fund manager at UTI AMC pointed out that a large number of sophisticated investors may have stayed away from buying gold ETFs on Tuesday or restricted themselves to making token purchases to fulfill their religious obligations.

?Considering that the rush to buy gold ETFs on Akshaya Tritiya would bid up prices even further, intelligent investors might have found it more economical to make their purchases much before the actual festival day,? he said.

The gross traded value in Gold ETFs on the NSE was R845 crore last Akshaya Tritiya compared with R345 crore on the same day in 2010.

According to Renisha Chainani, commodity analyst ? capital markets (individual clients), Edelweiss Financial Services, gold prices have risen more than 8% this year. ?I expect the bull run in gold to continue this year as well, with prices expected to trade above R30,000/10 gram by the year end. So, one should buy on dips and allocate 10-15% of portfolio investment in gold,? said Chainani.

Net inflows into gold ETFs for FY12 amounted to R3,646 crore, a 59% increase over the amount of R2,289 crore garnered in the previous fiscal, according to data from industry body Amfi. Assets under management (AUM) for the category in FY12 have more than doubled to R9,886 crore from R4,400 crore collected in the previous fiscal.