Oct 1: gold, dollar in Vietnam ease

Local gold prices on October 1 slightly fell to VND31.18million/tael and VND31.27million/tael, respectively, down VND60,000/tael-VND70,000/tael from last close while dollar prices in the free market turned round to VND19,670.

Local gold prices on October 1 slightly fell to VND31.18million/tael and VND31.27million/tael, respectively, down VND60,000/tael-VND70,000/tael from last close while dollar prices in the free market turned round to VND19,670 after hitting VND19,710 yesterday.

On Thursday, Hanoi’s Phu Quy SJC was listed at VND31.18million/tael and VND31.26million/tael for bid and ask, respectively. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh’s SJC bullion at 10 a.m was sold at VND31.27million/tael.

Sacombank-SBJ bullion in Ho Chi Minh at 9 a.m was listed at VND31.2million/tael and VND31.24million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

Local trading was lackluster this morning as investors remained skeptical on price volatility.

In Asia trade this morning, spot gold added $5.15 an ounce to $1,310.40, after hitting a record around $1,315 on Thursday, racking up its eighth consecutive quarterly gain as the U.S. Federal Reserve appeared ready to pump more cash in the struggling economy.

“I guess speculation will still be rife as to the state of the U.S. economy. The need or not for a QE2 (second round of quantitative easing) from the Fed,” said Darren Heatchcote, head of trading at Investec Australia in Sydney.

“If it stays above $1,305, I think the more medium-term target could be sort of $1,345,” said Heathcote of Investec, who pegged downside target around $1,290s.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose $2.1 an ounce to $1,311.7 an ounce, having struck a record at $1,317.50 on Thursday.

Higher gold prices widened the discounts for gold bars in Tokyo to 50 cents below the spot London price from 25 cents last week.

The world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings eased to 1,304.776 tons by Sept 30 from 1,305.688 tons on Sept 28. The holdings hit a record at 1,320.436 tons on June 29.

In the local forex market, dollar prices edged up at unofficial market while held at official market.

Dollar prices at gold shops were quoted at VND19,650 and VND19,670 for bid and ask, respectively, in which the ask price was down VND20,000 to a dollar from yesterday but up VND130 from early this week.

Meanwhile, Vietcombank’s dollar bid and ask were unchanged at VND19,475 and VND19,500.

In global forex market, the dollar fell near 83.44 yen, not far from a 15-year low of 82.87 hit on trading platform EBS earlier this month before Japan intervened.

The dollar index fell to an eight-month low of 78.414 before rebounding toward 78.747. It has fallen more than 8% over the quarter, leaving it on track for its biggest quarterly fall since the second quarter of 2002. – Stoxplus.com

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