Local and global gold prices move in opposite directions

A customer (R) sells gold at SJC. Although the global gold price increased, the local price slightly declined on Monday – Photo: Le Toan HCMC – Global gold price rose on Monday but the local price of the yellow metal fell, standing at less than VND38 million per tael, due to low buying energy.

By 4 p.m. on Monday, the European market gold traded at US$1,496.4 an ounce, up by US$8.9 from the previous week, while Saigon Jewelry Co.’s (SJC) quotation was VND37.62 million per tael, down by VND40,000 from the open and VND30,000 from last Saturday. A tael equals to 1.2 troy ounces.

Low local demand was attributable to the opposite directions of local and global gold prices.

Nguyen Cong Tuong, deputy head of the sales department of SJC, said the company sold 1,500 taels on Monday while buying 1,800 taels from the public.

At the exchange rate of VND20,620 to the dollar at banks on Monday, the local gold price was about VND600,000 per tael higher than the global level.

As a rule, when the local gold price is VND500,000 per tael higher than on world markets, speculators will hunt for dollars from the unofficial market to finance gold imports, thus prompting the unofficial dollar price to pick up.

However, the greenback on the unofficial market on Monday was even lower than on the weekend, at around VND20,580 per dollar for buying and VND20,640 for selling, down VND20. – SGT

Tags: vietnam gold, Vietnam gold market, Vietnam gold prices