Jan 20: Vietnam gold turns round to VND35.62Mln/tael, Dollar down

Local gold prices on January 19 morning eased to VND35.7million/tael, down VND50,000-VND60,000 from last close as global gold prices edged down to $1,368.45, snapping a three-day winning run. Dollar prices also fell to VND21,000 in the free market.

At 9:23 a.m., Sacombank-SBJ in Ho Chi Minh was listed at VND35.56million/tael and VND35.62million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

Bid and ask of Thang Long gold bullion, a product of Bao Tin Minh Chau were listed at VND35.55million/tael and VND35.65million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

SJC in Hanoi was listed at VND35.55million/tael and VND35.64million/tael for bid and ask, respectively. Meanwhile, SJC in HCMC was listed at VND35.55million/tael and VND35.62milllion/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

Local trading remained thin, forcing gold shops to keep a narrow bid-ask spread of below VND100,000. Local gold prices have ranged from VND35million/tael to VND36million/tael for a month, the state media reported.

In Asian trade this morning, spot gold edged down 0.1% to $1,368.45 an ounce by 0039 GMT, snapping a three-day winning run as the euro rally paused while investors watch for the key China economic data that might shed light on prospects for future monetary policy changes.

U.S. gold futures shed 0.1% to $1,368.4.

New home starts in December fell more than expected to the lowest in more than a year, suggesting the battered housing sector remained a major roadblock to economic recovery.

Worries about the euro zone debt crisis have eased, and talk that German officials were drafting contingency plans in case Greece defaults suggested they were working to prevent the crisis from worsening.

Beijing is scheduled to release a suite of data, including economic growth in the fourth quarter and December’s inflation later in the day. The economy was expected to have slowed slightly from the previous three months.

Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell to an eight-month low of 1,251.433 tons.

In the global market, the dollar index edged up from a two-month low hit in the previous session.

In the local market, dollar prices were quoted at VND20,095 and VND21,000 for bid and ask, respectively. Meanwhile, those at Vietcombank were capped at VND19,495 and VND19,500 for bid and ask, respectively. – Stoxplus.com

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