Gold stalls at VND45.3 million

Sacombank Jewellery Company bought gold at VND44.95 million and sold at VND45.25 million as of 10:05am Vietnamese time.

Saigon Jewellery Company, the biggest gold processor and trader in Vietnam, collected the metal at VND45 million and sold at VND45.3 million as of 7:56am Vietnamese time.

Hanoi-based Phu Quy Jewellery Company purchased SJC-brand gold at VND45.2 million and sold at VND45.3 million as of 10:04am Vietnamese time.

Meanwhile, Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewellery Company quoted the prices at VND44.3 million for buying, and VND44.55 million for selling at 12:30pm Vietnamese time.

Domestically, gold still fetched VND1.2 million a tael, higher than global price.

According to gold traders, bullion market returned to muted mood after sizzling in a few trading sessions at the beginning of Lunar New Year. Saigon Jewellery Company sold more than 1,000 taels of gold yesterday, and bought the same amount. While trading volume of Sacombank Jewellery Company reached 850 taels.

Dollars were bought at VND21,030 per dollar, and sold at VND21,060 per dollar on free market in Hanoi. Vietcombank bought the greenback at VND20,986 per dollar and sold at VND21,036 per dollar, up VND50 per dollar in buying price over the previous day.

Globally, gold opened the trading session with a slight drop, but it rebounded later. In Asia, gold for immediate delivery rose $1.4 an ounce to trade at $1,739.1 an ounce at 9:50am Vietnamese time.

Spot gold gained as much as $6.4 an ounce, or 0.4 per cent, to close at $1,737.7 an ounce on the Comex in New York last night.

The heavy metal surged 11 per cent in January, the strongest pace since August 2011. Gold was supported by a weaker US dollar after the US Federal Reserve announced a possibility of a longer loose monetary policy.

However, international analysts said that rising momentum of gold gradually decelerated as investors remained wary about global economic growth and the Greece government debt.

Talks between Greece and its creditor banks were still stagnant, which means that the risk of a national bankruptcy has not yet resolved.

The US economic data released yesterday showed that the US consumers turned less optimistic in January while home prices fell more steeply than expected in November.

Today, markets eye Purchasing Managers' Index of China, eurozone, and the US.