Central bank to resume gold bar bidding after 11 years

Central bank will resume gold bar bidding after 11 years (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi – The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will resume gold bar bidding after 11 years, aiming to increase the supply of gold to the market, promptly and immediately settle the high difference in domestic and international gold prices, thus ensuring the gold market operates in a safe and stable, healthy, open, transparent and effective manner in accordance with the Prime Minister's direction.

The SBV said that it will release a notice one day prior to the bidding. After the floor price is announced, credit institutions and gold businesses will have 30 minutes to decide the purchase volume and price. One hour after closing the bid, the bank will announce the results. Businesses will have to make a deposit to participate in the bidding no later than 5pm on the day of receiving the bidding notice.

So far, 26 units, including commercial banks and gold businesses have set up a gold bar trading relationship with the SBV. Of which, 15 have been eligible for bidding. The type of gold offered for bidding is SJC gold bars.

The first gold bidding session was held on March 28, 2013. In that year, the SBV organised 76 bidding sessions, during which 1,819,900 out of the 1,932,000 taels of gold bullion were sold.

SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha said that the move is part of the bank’s efforts to deal with the high difference in domestic and international gold bar prices. The official added that the bank will continue to roll out various measures to stabilise gold prices.

Since the beginning of this year, domestic gold prices have increased strongly, recently setting new records and widening the gap with the global prices.

At 1:30pm on April 15, the Saigon Gems and Gold One Member Limited Liability Company listed SJC gold prices at 83.3 million VND per tael for buying and 85.52 million VND per tael for selling, an increase of 3 million VND per tael for buying and 2.6 million VND per tael for selling compared to the previous trading session.

State does not encourage gold bar trading: SBV The State does not encourage the trading of gold bars, protect their prices, nor accept too large differences between domestic and global gold prices, and between SJC and other types of gold bars, said Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Dao Minh Tu.

SBV to increase gold bar supply to stabilise domestic market The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will increase the supply of gold bullion to handle the existing huge difference in domestic and world gold prices, SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha told the press on April 12.