With a sharp increase of more than 2 percent during last night’s trading sessions, global gold prices again pushed the price in Vietnam to VND29 million on November 26.
At most gold shops, the metal was bought at VND28.8 million and sold at VND29.1 million, VND300,000-400,000 a tael higher than the previous day.
However, after the State Bank of Vietnam stepped in to adjust the dollar exchange rate on the free market yesterday, the VND29 million mark was not consistent at all jewellers.
Gold shops fixed different prices in the morning with the trading gap up to hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese dong.
The return of the VND29 million mark has strongly affected traders’ behaviour. Most were selling at gold shops this morning as prices hovered around the historic high.
On the SBJ trading floor, trading volume was fairly low with nearly 160,000 taels changing hands at VND26.28 million to VND26.66 million by 10:15am. The floor commission was reduced to VND2.6 million a tael from VND3.5 million a few days ago.
Globally, the metal advanced to a historic high due to investors’ heavy buying and the debasement of the greenback.
Spot gold rose as much as US$23.9 an ounce, 2.1 percent, to $1,193.1 an ounce in New York.
In Asia, bullion slightly moved around $1,193-1,194 an ounce.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka yesterday announced it bought 10 tons of gold, worth $375 million, from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This is the third sale of the 403.3 tons the IMF announced September 18 it would divest to shore up its finance.
The IMF sold 200 tons to India for $6.7 billion, and 2 tons to Maritus for $71.7 million.
After Sri Lanka’s purchase, India was considering buying more gold from IMF.
SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest bullion-backed exchange-traded fund, bought 5.5 tons, sending its holdings to 1,127.9 tons from 1,122.4.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the strength of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell to a 15-month low.
The dollar exchange rate was at $1.51 a euro in Tokyo.
The State Bank of Vietnam announced the dollar exchange rate at VND17,961, up VND927 from the previous day.
State-owned Vietcombank bought dollars at VND18,485 and sold at VND18,490.
Crude oil futures for January delivery gained $1.94 a barrel, 2.6 percent, to $77.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In Asia, crude oil slid to nearly $77.5 a barrel this morning.
