Weakening US dollar retains gold below VND38.2 million

Most gold shops purchased the metal at above VND38.1 million and sold at below VND38.2 million, an increase of VND10,000-20,000 a tael over the previous day.

Sacombank Jewelry Company bought the metal at VND38.12 million and sold at VND38.19 million as of 10 am local time.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi-based Phu Quy Jewelry bought SJC-brand gold at VND38.09 million and sold at VND38.15 million at the same time.

Domestically, gold fetched around VND300,000 a tael lower than global price.

The dollar exchange rates against the Vietnamese dong at commercial banks cut another VND20 per dollar this morning. State-owned Vietcombank bought the greenback at VND20,560 and sold at VND20,630.

Meanwhile, the interbank US dollar exchange rate continued treading water at VND20,618 per dollar.

Internationally, gold strongly rose after the US Federal Reserve lowered growth forecast for the year 2011 to around 2.7-2.9 per cent from April’s top-end forecast of 3.3 per cent. It also cut growth forecast to 3.3-3.7 per cent for the next year. However, the metal soon declined as investors sold gold to take profits and the US dollar strengthened.

Gold for immediate delivery gained as much as $0.8 an ounce to close at $1,549 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the metal climbed to nearly $1,560 an ounce.

In Asia, the metal mainly dropped this morning. Spot gold tripped $2 an ounce to $1,547 an ounce as of 10:25 am Vietnamese time.

The US dollar rallied against other major currencies after Fed reaffirmed that the quantitative easing package would end by the end of this month. The euro exchange rate against the greenback was at $1.43 a euro in Tokyo this morning.

Holdings at SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest exchange traded fund backed by bullion, stood at 1,209.1 metric tons since the beginning of this week, the company’s website showed.

Crude oil futures for July settlement was traded at $94.33 a barrel as of 10:30 am Vietnamese time.