Vietnam gold near VND29Mln, Dollar surges to VND19,500 at banks

Local gold prices soared VND100,000 to VND28.8million/ tael and VND28.85 million/tael on August 20, while dollar prices rose to VND 19,500 at some commercial banks as world gold prices rose and Vietnam devaluated its currency by 2.09%.

Local gold prices soared VND100,000 to VND28.8million/ tael and VND28.85 million/tael on August 20, while dollar prices rose to VND 19,500 at some commercial banks as world gold prices rose and Vietnam devaluated its currency by 2.09%.

SJC’s bullion’s bid and ask were listed at VND 28.65 million and VND28.71million/tael this morning, up VND150, 000-VND170, 000/tael from last close. The bullion’s ask even rose to VND28.75 million/tael at noon.

SBJ bullion’s bid and ask at 9 a.m were listed at VND28.70 million and VND28.72 million/tael, up VND150,000/tael-VND160,000/tael from yesterday. A tael is equal to 1.2 ounce.

The higher prices fluctuation boosted up trading activities as traders jumped in to take some profit.

In Asia trade, spot gold was last around $1,234 an ounce late Thursday, up from $1,227.55 late in New York on Wednesday.

U.S. gold for December delivery settled up $4 at $1,235.40 in thin volume.

Gold rose to its highest price since July 1, rallying for a sixth day as disappointing U.S. jobless claims data rekindled economic fears, sent stock markets lower and prompted investors to buy gold as a safe haven.

“Whenever there is any uncertainty in the marketplace, people tend to put their money in gold,” said Jeff Pritchard, trader at futures brokerage Altawest.

Gold initially rose toward $1,240 an ounce, but the rally fizzled as losses in U.S. stocks deepened, prompting some investors to sell gold to cover margin calls.

Gold has been resuming its traditional inverse correlation with the dollar and a positive link with the euro, analysts said, but the link remained erratic as the dollar and gold both benefited from safe-haven flows at times.

The 25-day simple correlation between gold and the dollar fell to a plus 0.1 on Thursday, sharply lower than a high of near 0.9 earlier in August.

The world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust said its holdings on Wednesday rose just under 1 ton to 1,295.516 tons, their highest since July 27.

In the local forex market, dollar prices surged at some commercial banks but remained stable at the unofficial market. Massive dollar price hike at these local banks was seen after the SBV’s move of devaluating the country’s currency, the dong, by 2.09% to VND18,932 to a dollar on August 18.

Dollar’s bid and ask listed by Eximbank nearly hit the cap at VND19,400 and VND19,500, respectively. Dollar prices listed by Vietcombank surged to VND19,465 and VND19,480, for bid and ask, respectively, up VND40 and VND20.

However, dollar prices in free market maintained at VND19,440 and VND19,480 for bid and ask, respectively.

Local dollar demand overweighing the supply leads to dollar price hike at home despite the downtrend movement of the global dollar against the major hard currencies recently.

In global forex market, the U.S. dollar fell against a basket of currencies after the lackluster job data. – Stoxplus

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