India Benchmark gold ETF sees highest volume on festival

MUMBAI, May 7 (Reuters) - India's biggest gold exchange-traded fund (GBES.NS: Quote, Profile, Research) by volume, managed by Benchmark Asset Management, recorded its highest daily turnover on Wednesday, the day that also had a gold-buying festival.

Volumes were at 91,423 lots, sharply higher than the previous day's 13,966.

"There has been no (big) price movement, so it has to be the Akshaya Tritiya festival," said Rajan Mehta, executive director of Benchmark, when asked why volumes rose.

Akshaya Tritiya, when many people mainly in south India believe buying gold will invoke prosperity, is being celebrated on Wednesday and Thursday.

Benchmark's gold collections were at 1.351 tonnes at the end of April, or 33 percent of the gold ETF market.

Other gold ETFs recorded higher volumes than the previous day, but they were not at their highest.

(Reporting by Ruchira Singh; editing by Sunil Nair)