March 9: Vietnam gold falls, Dollar trading closely monitored

Local gold prices on March 9 extended losses as the local authorities are taking measures to closely monitor illegal dollar trading in the OTC market.

As of 15:00 Hanoi time, Sacombank-SBJ gold as listed at VND3744 million/tael and VND37.5 million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

Bid and ask of Thang Long gold bullion, a product of Bao Tin Minh Chau were listed at VND37.4 million/tael and VND37.52 million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

SJC in Hanoi was listed at VND37.42 million/tael and VND37.52 million/tael for bid and ask, respectively, meanwhile, SJC in HCMC was listed at VND37.42 million/tael and VND37.5 milllion/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

In Euro trade this afternoon, gold tracked oil lower. Spot gold shed 74 cents to $1,427.45 an ounce, off a record high of $1,444.40 an ounce struck on Monday. U.S. gold futures for April added $1.3 an ounce to $1,428.5 an ounce. They had struck record high at $1,445.70 on Monday.

Spot gold is expected to retrace to $1,412 per ounce based on its wave pattern and a Fibonacci retracement analysis, according to Wang Tao, who is a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

The physical gold market saw light buying from jewelers but other consumers waited for cheaper prices.

“Definitely they will come back to buy but not at these prices. I would say there’s still selling interest at the current level, but there’s light demand here and there,” said a physical dealer in Singapore.

“I feel it is consolidating, waiting for any lead out of Libya. We’ll see what happens on (Friday) prayer day around the Gulf, and then we’ll see whether or not there is need for concern. I think that’s the focus we have to follow,” said Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services in Melbourne.

“If nothing happens on Friday, then I feel it will be a sigh of relief that the contagion won’t actually spread. As a result of that, if we don’t see it spread, then gold would come under pressure.”

In local money market, the dong was traded at 20,870 and 20,875 per dollar for bid and ask, respectively at both Vietcombank and BIDV after the State Bank of Vietnam weakened the daily reference rate to VND20,668 from VND20,663, according to its website. The currency is allowed to trade up to 1% on either side of that midpoint.

In the OTC market, dollar was offered at VND21,700 in Vinh while trading in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City was frozen on fears of business investigation.

The first case of dollar illegal trading was reported today with a trade of $400,000 seized. – Stoxplus.com

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