April 20: Vietnam gold extends rally for fifth day, Dong edges up

Local gold on April 20 extended its rally streak to a fifth day in a row as world gold price topped $1,500 an ounce, the dong rose VND5.

As of 16:00 Hanoi time, Sacombank-SBJ gold as listed at VND37.44million/tael and VND37.52million/tael for bid and ask, respectively, rising a corresponding of VND180,000 and VND120 from the same time yesterday.

Bid and ask of Thang Long gold bullion, a product of Bao Tn Minh Chau were listed at VND37.44million/tael and VND37.56million/tael for bid and ask, respectively, up VND210,000 from the same time yesterday.

SJC in Hanoi was listed at VND37.47million/tael and VND37.56million/tael for bid and ask, respectively, up VND190,000 from the same time yesterday.

The quoted prices were also much higher than the morning’s and the prices were continuously adjusted up.

Though the local gold prices rose steadily in the past five days, they are estimated to be VND200,000/tael lower than global gold prices, as a result of the government bullion trade limitation. Giavang.net converted global gold price into VND37.72 million – VND37.74 million a tael.

The gold trading was more active as both demand and selling rose ahead of government final decision on bullion trade.

In Euro trade this afternoon, spot gold prices breached $1,500 for the first time supported by a weak dollar and concerns over a sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone.

Spot gold rose to $1,500.16 an ounce before easing slightly to $1,499.10, up 0.4 percent. U.S. gold futures rose to a record of $1,500.90.

The dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of currencies, softened towards its 16-month low hit last week, boosting the appeal of gold in non-dollar denominated currencies.

“There are not a great deal of reasons to sell it at the moment, apart from concerns that there are a lot of longs in the market and there is a risk of sell-off at some point,” said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec Australia.

Technical analysis also points to a further rally in gold targeting $1,518, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Some market watchers see gold consolidating at its current level as it waits for the next reason to push higher.

“I don’t see prices convincingly past that level in the next few days unless we see something very negative, probably related to the euro zone sovereign debt. But we do see gold very well supported at the $1,490 level,” said Natalie Robertson, commodities strategist at ANZ.

In local official forex market, the dong gained VND5 against the dollar as the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) raised reference rate to VND20,728 from VND20,733 per dolla. Local banks broadly widened the spread between bid and offer up to VND35 from previous VND10 – Stoxplus.com

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