April 1: Vietnam gold rebounds to VND37Mln, Dong falls third straight day

Local gold on April 1 rebounded to VND37million/tael as global gold rose to settle above $1,438 on New York trade last night. Meanwhile, the dong fell VND5 per dollar for the third straight day in the official market.

As of 1:53 p.m. Hanoi time, Sacombank-SBJ gold as listed at VND36.95million/tael and VND36.99million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

Bid and ask of Thang Long gold bullion, a product of Bao Tin Minh Chau were listed at VND36.9million/tael and VND37.02million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

SJC in Hanoi was listed at VND36.91million/tael and VND37million/tael for bid and ask, respectively, meanwhile, SJC in HCMC was listed at VND36.91million/tael and VND36.98milllion/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

In Asian trade this morning, gold dropped on Friday before the release of U.S. non-farm payrolls report which could underpin the dollar and weigh on bullion, while ETF holdings posted their biggest quarterly decline ever.

Spot gold fell $2.88 an ounce to $1,433.60 an ounce by 0618 GMT, having risen about half a percent on Thursday on inflation worries sparked by rallies in oil and grain prices, notching a 10th straight quarterly gain.

U.S. gold futures for April dropped $4.4 to $1,434.5 an ounce.

The world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York’s SPDR Gold Trust, posted in the first three months of 2011 its biggest quarterly drop since inception in November 2004 as the prospect of interest rate hikes and gains in other commodities, such as oil, drove investors to sell.

A bullish target at $1,447.40 per ounce was unchanged for spot gold, based on its wave pattern and a triple-bottom pattern, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

“I am still positive about gold, but I think it will take time to consolidate. But there’s not much going on, especially on the physical side and we are also waiting for the non-farm figure tonight,” said Dick Poon, manager of precious metals at Heraeus in Hong Kong.

The dollar steadied against the euro and particularly against commodity currencies after Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Narayana Kocherlakota said rates should rise by up to 75 basis points by year-end if core inflation and economic growth picked up as he expected.

In local official forex market, the dong fell VND5 per dollar for the third consecutive day as the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) weakened reference rate to VND20,708 per dollar, according to the central bank’s data.

The dong was traded at VND20,910 and VND20,915 per dollar for bid and ask, respectively at Vietcombank. Meanwhile, it was traded at VND21,090 and VND21,150 in the black market which has sneakily reactivated on late March 30. – Stoxplus.com

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