70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Home / Economy / Trade - Service
Vietnam gold market freezes as global prices set to plunge
Ngoc Thuy 17:01, 2021/03/08
“Never before have the gold market been such quiet in the first few months of the year,” said a representative of SJC.

While the global gold prices for the first time in months fell below the US$1,700 per ounce, the domestic market of this precious metal came to a standstill as result.

 Customers at Bao Tin - Manh Hai gold store. Photo: Thanh Hai

At the final trading session of last week, selling and buying prices for gold bars quoted by Doji, Vietnam’s largest jewelry company, stood at VND54.95 million (US$2,376) and VND55.5 million (US$2,400) per tael.

Vietnam’s largest gold and gold jewelry production and distribution Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC) listed the gold selling and buying prices at VND55.1-55.5 million (US$2,382-2,400). As a result, domestic gold prices last week were down by VND700,000 (US$30.27) against last week.

Such decline came as the global gold prices fell below the US$1,700-per-ounce-mark to a nine-month low of US$1,695, equivalent to VND47.2 million (US$2,041) per tael [a tael is 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces].

Chief Currency Analyst at HYCM Giles Coghlan attributed the Covid-19 vaccine roll out to the trend of  selling out gold at the moment.

Meanwhile, the fact that a hike in prices of Bitcoin (surpassing US$50,000) and crude oil on the global market to nearly US$61 per barrel, has been luring investors into the cryptocurrency and the oil market.

Chief Market Strategist at Blue Line Futures Phillip Streible said if the gold price could not hold on to the US$1,675 per ounce this week, there is a high chance that the price will further go down to the US$1,600 per ounce mark.

Despite a bleak outlook for global gold prices, the domestic price for gold remained high and kept the difference at nearly VND8.2 million (US$354.87) per tael.

Director of the New Partner Jewelry Company Nguyen Ngoc Trong said there were almost no gold-related transactions for the past few days.

“Investors were supposed to sell gold  when the prices remain high, but in fact, this was not the case,” said Trong.

When the domestic gold prices were around VND56-62 million (US$2,422-2,682) per tael, or a difference of up to VND8.5 million (US$367.77) per tael from world prices, people were still buying in gold.

Therefore, at this present, many are suffering losses of around VND5 million (US$216.38) per tael.

Those buying golds at high prices are forced to wait and keep monitoring the market situation, while the risky nature of a big gap between domestic and global prices is keeping new investors from coming in.

“Never before have the gold market been such quiet in the first few months of the year,” said a representative of SJC.

Amid suggestion that the central bank should issue license for importing gold from abroad and thus narrow the price difference from international and domestic markets, experts urged local authorities to be cautious as the market is at a standstill at the moment, not to mention potential impacts to inflation and current exchange rates.

RELATED NEWS
TAG: gold prices Vietnam SJC DOJI Covid-19 vaccine nCoV pandemic
Other news
15:25, 2024/03/29
Vietnam among Japan’s top partners: KEIDANREN
Japanese firms are eager to expand in Vietnam and boost economic cooperation in various fields, including industrial support, digital transformation, high-quality workforce training, and global supply chain development.
20:36, 2024/03/25
Vietnam seeks to strengthen ties with Finland
Vietnam remains a key partner for Finland in ASEAN.
18:15, 2024/03/21
Vietnam urged to soon implement PDP VIII
Ensuring an attractive investment environment "capable of mobilizing capital" is crucial to attracting long-term investment in infrastructure development.
15:41, 2024/03/21
Argentina seeks to elevate ties with Vietnam to strategic partnership
Both sides would continue to accelerate the process of negotiating and concluding the Vietnam-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement.
20:36, 2024/03/20
Vietnamese Gov’t to strengthen gold market management
Authorities must strictly enforce laws against gold smuggling, speculation, manipulation, and exploiting government policies to inflate gold prices, posing risks to market stability and safety.
15:06, 2024/03/20
South Korea to increase ODA by 50% to Vietnam in 2024
South Korea is the leading investor in Vietnam with a cumulative total of $86 billion.