Gold stalls; black-market dollar declines

Sacombank Jewelry Company bought gold at VND43.25 million and sold at VND43.55 million as of 11:15am Vietnamese time.

Saigon Jewelry Company, the biggest gold processor and trader in Vietnam, collected gold at VND43.3 million and sold at VND43.6 million as of 10:02am Vietnamese time.

Hanoi-based Phu Quy Jewelry Company purchased SJC-brand gold at VND43.3 million and sold at VND43.58 million at 12:15pm Vietnamese time.

Meanwhile, Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewelry Company quoted the price at VND42.3 million for buying, and VND42.58 million for selling at 12:24pm Vietnamese time.

Domestically, SJC-brand gold fetched around VND1.9 million a tael, higher than global price.

Gold was almost unchanged as of the previous day, causing trading volume at jewelers to fall drastically. Selling demand was still noticeably high over the end of last year. According to gold traders, selling demand mainly triggered by customers who bought gold at low prices of late, and now fear that the metal would return to a downward trend so they sell gold to lock in gains.

Saigon Jewelry Company bought 1,200 taels of gold, and sold 1,800 taels yesterday, a decrease of 30 per cent in buying volume, and nearly 50 per cent in selling volume over the previous day.

Meanwhile, Sacombank Jewelry Company traded nearly 900 taels of gold, of which buying volume was at 550 taels.

On free market, the dollar exchange rate declined this morning. One dollar was bought at VND21,250 per dollar, and sold at VND21,280 per dollar, a decrease of VND30 per dollar over the previous day.

Internationally, gold edged up as investors remained nervous about the European sovereign-debt crisis and sought safety in the precious metal, while dollar weighed on sentiment.

Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as $8.9 an ounce, or 0.6 per cent, to close at $1,622.4 an ounce on the Comex in New York.

Bullion continuously advanced since the first trading session of this year despite a weaker euro against the US dollar. The greenback was standing at the highest level in the past year against a basket of major currencies. Investors increased buying of the US currency on concerns over the Europe’s debt turmoil although French bond yield rose slightly in the auction yesterday.

In Asia, spot gold surged $3.4 an ounce to trade at $1,626.6 an ounce at 10:30am Vietnamese time.

The euro exchange rate against the US dollar was at below $1.28 a euro in Tokyo this morning.

Investors will closely watch December's US non-farm payroll data due later in the day, after a report on Thursday showed that private-sector hiring surged last month and unemployment claims fell.