Chennai, Nov 1 (IANS): Jewellers in Chennai are hoping to do somewhat brisk business in gold, silver, diamond during Dhanteras celebrated Friday, though the sales are expected to be down between 20-40 percent, against last year's.

According to jewellers, sales during the Diwali season were not great and Dhanteras is expected to give them some relief.

"We expect to do good business today (Friday) as it is considered auspicious to buy gold and precious items on Dhanteras day. But the sales volume is expected to be down as compared to previous year's figures," Jayantilal Challani, president of Madras Jewellers and Diamond Merchants Association and a partner in Challani Jewellery Mart, told IANS.

The sales are expected to be down between 20-30 percent on Dhanteras this year as compared to last year, said Challani.

Agreeing with him, N. Anantha Padmanabhan of NAC Jewellers told IANS: "Sales are expected to be good today (Friday). But it will be down by 30-40 percent as compared to last year."

He said gold price is high due to import restrictions and the yellow metal is sold to jewellers at a premium.

According to Challani, even during Akshay Tritiya festival in May, jewellery sales were down as against last year as people had bought gold/jewellery in April itself when gold prices came down.

"The demand was high in April and jewellers were not able to match production with the demand," he added.

Nevertheless, both the jewellers expect Friday sales to be better as people will buy even a small item on this auspicious day that comes but only once in a year.

"People would buy gold, diamond and silver on this day. Nowadays youth buy small diamond jewellery. We expect good business," said Challani.