demand for gold in india the worlds biggest market has risen sharply with the wedding season in full swing the current demand is the best i have seen in the past one year said ranjit rathod a bullion trader based in chennai he said gold imports into chennai had risen to about 300 kg per day against a normal of 150 to 175 kg other importing centres such as ahmedabad also reported a rise in overseas purchases india imports nearly 70 per cent of its annual consumption of more than 800 tonnes making it the worlds biggest gold market with onefifth of the global demand demand for gold jewellery that forms nearly 85 per cent of the domestic sales rises during the wedding season which begins in january and runs through may we are hoping to see a good demand till mayend provided gold prices stay in a range of 320 330 an ounce said a bullion dealer with an international bank spot gold was quoted at 3285032950 an ounce at 0720 gmt on monday up from 3263532775 at tokyos close on friday it is down about 15 per cent from more than sixyear highs in early february domestic prices follow global trends due to the countrys heavy dependence on imports oldeconomy scrips turn favourites shares finished higher on monday as investors turned to oldeconomy companies on expectations they would post strong quarterly results and hunted for bargains in the battered technology sector brokers said the 30issue benchmark sensex closed up 042 per cent at 299697 points bouncing off a fivemonth closing low hit the previous session gainers outpaced losers 692 to 477 in a volume of 58 million shares compared with thursdays 516 million the broader national exchange index closed up 069 per cent value stocks are back in demand due to the tech sectors weak growth prospects said ajit sanghvi a director at mss securities investors are beginning to realise that some stocks ignored by the market are going cheap reliance industries gained 036 per cent to end up rs 27910 two days before it is due to announce its quarterly results a reuters poll of 10 analysts estimated that the company would report its januarymarch net profit to jump 36 per cent from a year earlier to rs 1137 crore satyam computer services rose 71 per cent to rs 15450 as traders bought the beatendown stock before it announces its results on thursday reuters