Gold appetite still runs wild at home

Saigon Jewelry Holding Co. (SJC) on Wednesday posted the price at VND41 million a tael for buying and VND41.35 million for selling, shrinking VND50,000 per tael from Tuesday afternoon. This level was ways higher than the lowest of VND39.5 million a tael the previous day.

Despite the price hike, local residents were still seen queuing up at gold enterprises to wait for their turns to shop the precious metal.

Nguyen Cong Tuong, deputy sales manager of SJC, recorded a sharp rise in local gold demand on Tuesday, with the firm’s trading volume tripling versus other days to some 3,000 taels. Despite the higher gold price on Wednesday, SJC still sold out a large volume while its buying volume was minimal.

Similarly, Phu Nhuan Jewelry Co. (PNJ) sold 1,800 taels and bought only about 200 taels on Wednesday. Nguyen Ngoc Trong, sales director of PNJ, said numerous people still asked for gold at the company’s stores as they believed the aforesaid price was still pretty low.

Given little price volatility on global markets, local enterprises also seek ways to narrow down the gap between buying and selling prices, which stood at around VND300,000-400,000 a tael as of Wednesday instead of over VND800,000 as observed in the day before.

In Hanoi, the trading atmosphere still heated up at large gold trading areas like Tran Nhan Trong and Xa Dan streets on Wednesday. As global gold prices have recovered again, many Hanoi residents have rushed to buy gold for fear that the prices would pick up further in the near future.

The State Bank of Vietnam put up for sale 40,000 tales in the eighth gold auction on Wednesday, with 39,700 taels finding buyers finally.

There were a total 16 bidders winning the right to purchase gold from the central bank this time. The highest winning price is VND40.8 million a tael and the lowest VND40.71 million. As such, a combined 223,600 taels, or nearly 8.34 tons, were sold out by the central bank in the past eight auctions.

The gap between global and local gold prices has widened to over VND6.4 million a tael instead of narrowing down as seen on Tuesday. A tael equals 1.2 troy ounces.