Gold seesaws ahead of ECB, EU summit

Sacombank Jewelry Company bought gold at VND44.89 million and sold at VND45.09 million as of 9:15am Vietnamese time.

Saigon Jewelry Company, the biggest gold processing and trading company in Vietnam, collected gold at VND44.89 million and sold at VND45.09 million around 8:55am Vietnamese time.

Hanoi-based Phu Quy Jewelry Company purchased SJC-brand gold at VND44.93 million and sold at VND45.13 million at 9:26am Vietnamese time.

Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewelry Company quoted the price at VND44.05 million for buying, and VND44.25 million for selling at 12:23pm Vietnamese time.

The prices of non-SJC gold bar were just a little higher than material gold, and lower than SJC-brand gold by nearly VND1 million. Meanwhile, the quality of gold bar is considered the same. According to some gold traders, the cost to transform non-SJC gold bar into SJC-brand gold bar is just around VND30,000 per tael.

Domestically, SJC-brand gold fetched VND800,000 a tael, higher than global price.

On black market, one dollar was bought at VND21,130, and sold at VND21,160, an increase of VND30 per dollar in buying price, and VND10 per dollar in selling price over the previous day.

Internationally, gold rose sharply on optimism that European policymakers would find a way to end the region's two-year-old debt crisis at a crucial European Union summit this week.  Investors were also eyeing a European Central Bank policy meeting later in the day for any hint that the ECB will intensify its bond buying support for the bloc. The ECB is expected to cut interest rates and provide a fresh aid package for stressed banks in the region.  

Gold for immediate delivery climbed as much as $13.7 an ounce, or 0.8 percent, to close at $1,744.1 an ounce on the Comex in New York.

In Asia, spot gold trimmed $5.7an ounce to trade at $1,738.5 an ounce at 9:45am Vietnamese time.

Standard & Poor's warned on Wednesday that it could cut credit ratings of the European Union and large euro-zone banks if a mass downgrade of euro-zone countries materializes.

The euro exchange rate against the US dollar was below $1.34 a euro in Tokyo this morning.