Asia Gold-Elevated prices dim buying activity in top hubs

* Wedding season demand was subdued this summer - Indian dealer * China premiums at $24-$33/oz this week * Seeing some wholesale demand for gold- Singapore dealer By Rajendra Jadhav and Ashitha Shivaprasad May 31 (Reuters) - High prices curbed retail appetite for physical gold in most Asian hubs this week, while dealers in India were forced to offer discounts for a fourth consecutive week. "There is no trigger to bring retail buyers into jewellery stores. Prices are quite high, and there is no major festival in the near future," said Ashok Jain, proprietor of Mumbai-based gold wholesaler Chenaji Narsinghji. In India, the world's second-largest gold consumer and a major importer, domestic prices MAUc1 were trading around 72,000 rupees per 10 grams, after hitting a record high of 74,442 rupees earlier this month. Indian dealers offered a discount of up to $9 an ounce over official domestic prices - inclusive of 15% import and 3% sales levies, versus last week's discount of $13. Jewellers were not active in the market since wedding season demand was subdued this summer, said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private bank. In top consumer China, premiums XAU-CN-PREM were seen between $24-$33 per ounce over benchmark spot prices XAU= , versus $15-$20 last week. Despite lack of significant movement, "we anticipate further interest rate cuts from China in the coming quarters, this could ultimately lead to increased gold demand in the long run," said Bernard Sin, regional director, Greater China, at MKS PAMP. Gold was sold between at par to $2.25 premiums XAU-SG-PREM in Singapore, and at par to $2.00 premiums XAU-HK-PREM in Hong Kong. "When prices go up to new highs, it takes some time for customers to adjust. When there is a slight drop in prices, we might see some activity coming back," said Brian Lan at Singapore-based dealer GoldSilver Central. "On the wholesale side, we do see some clients needing gold as raw material to manufacture more jewellery." In Japan XAU-TK-PREM , bullion was sold at $0.25-$0.50 premium, unchanged from last week. (Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; Editing by Varun H K) (([email protected];))