Vietnam Gold Fails To Test VND37 Million, Dong advances

Local gold on April 6 failed to test VND37million threshold and turned tail to fall to VND36.8million/tael though global gold rose to settle at a record high above $1,452 ounce in New York last night. The dong advanced VND5 per dollar at banks.

As of 2:59 p.m. Hanoi time, Sacombank-SBJ gold as listed at VND36.9million/tael and VND36.96million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

Bid and ask of Thang Long gold bullion, a product of Bao Tn Minh Chau were listed at VND36.83million/tael and VND36.97million/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

SJC in Hanoi was listed at VND36.65million/tael and VND36.74million/tael for bid and ask, respectively, meanwhile, SJC in HCMC was listed at VND36.65million/tael and VND36.72milllion/tael for bid and ask, respectively.

In Asian trade this morning, gold firmed on Wednesday as lingering worries about inflation and tensions in the Arab world offset China’s latest move to raise interest rates.

Spot gold added $2.90 an ounce to $1,453.50 by 0601 GMT — not far from a record of $1,456.85 hit on Tuesday on rallies in corn and oil prices and a downgrade in Portugal’s credit rating that highlighted euro zone debt worries.

U.S. gold futures for June rose $2.50 an ounce to $1,455.0 an ounce.

“Gold is still looking to hit another record. Tensions in the Middle East and North Africa are not solved yet. Secondly, there are new uncertainties in the euro zone. These all will benefit gold,” said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong. “The only thing is that the increase in Chinese interest rates will be a negative factor for a little while.”

The world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings inched up to 1,212.745 tons by April 5 from 1,211.229 tons on March 31.

Spot gold may hover around $1,452 per ounce for one trading session before climbing towards $1,477, according to Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

Investors will still focus on the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, which has also spurred buying in silver and pushed up oil prices.

In local official forex market, the dong gained as the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) strengthened reference rate to VND20,708 per dollar, according to the central bank’s data. It was traded at VND20,910 and VND20,915 for bid and ask, respectively at Vietcombank.

Last week, the central bank hiked the reverse repurchase rate and refinance rates to 13% from 12% in an effort to battles soaring inflation.

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