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SJC sells 975 kg gold on slipping gold prices
Saigon Jewelry Co (SJC) sold 26,000 taels of gold, or 975 kilograms, in the last 3 days when the world gold price started its downward trend.
The trader, owning a 90 per cent market share in gold bullion, sold 7,000 tales on Thursday morning, 11,000 taels yesterday, and 8,000 taels a day before, while buying just some a dozen taels.
“Previously, we sold averagely 2,000 taels a day,” Nguyen Cong Tuong, deputy head of SJC sales department, told Vietnam Economic Forum, an online publication of the Hanoi-based newswire Vietnamnet.
All SJC shops in HCMC were in a state of overcrowding with hundreds of customers queuing up and waiting on plastic chairs arranged in a U-shaped circle around the cahiers.
“For those who buy less than 10 taels, the payment was conducted immediately, but for those buying up to some hundreds of taels, we have to ask them to pay at bank branches near our shops since we were incapable to handle their huge piles of cash,” Tuong told newswire Vneconomy.
Strong local demand is said to have pushed the price up and widened the price gap between international and domestic gold price to some VND2.2 million ($105) a tael. The closing price on Wednesday was 43.79 million and VND44.04 million a tael for bid and ask, up VND240,000 a tael from the two-month low set in the morning.
The downward trend of world gold price and the surge in local demand make it impossible for us to reduce the domestic prices since it will boost demand and thus, put a huge pressure on our stock, a SJC representative told Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon online.
If world price remains unchanged in coming days, the domestic demand will gradually cool down, he added.
Meanwhile, the Ho Chi Minh City-based Phu Nhuan Jewelry Co (PNJ) sold some 900 taels, mostly SJC gold bullion, while the sales of its own PNJ-DAB gold billion brand was small, Nguyen Thi Cuc, deputy general director of PNJ told Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon online.
The announcement of Nguyen Van Binh, governor of the State Bank of Vietnam – the central bank of Vietnam, that SJC gold bullion would be the national brand has soared up the demand for SJC gold and undermined the demand for other brands of gold bullion.
The SJC gold bullion may be transformed into SBV gold bullion brand in the future, he said in a meeting with the Vietnamese National Assembly late last month.
The HCMC-based Sacombank Jewelry Co (SBJ) and the Hanoi-based Bao Tin Minh Chau Co (BTMC) were also on the same boat with PNJ.
“We sold around some hundreds of taels, down 4-5 fold against that before the release of governor Binh’s statement”, said Nguyen Ngoc Que Chi, general director of SBJ.
Bao Tin Minh Chau saw customers flocking to buy gold rings, with only a few of them buying its own Bao Tinh Minh Chau gold bullion brand, said Nguyen Thi Huong, deputy head of BTMC sales department.
SJC spot gold Thursday morning stood at VND43.05-43.45 for bid and ask, down VND600,000 a tael day on day. The price slumped VND1 million within two days.
World spot gold stood at $1,578.6 an ounce after slipping to $1,562.1 an ounce, a 11-week low, while gold future was quoted at $1,586.9 an ounce.
Some expert has forecast the gold to fall to $1,475 an ounce, down 20 per cent compared to its record high of $1,923.7 an ounce set in September.
A metal trader in Hanoi told newswire Vnexpress that a commercial bank has asked him to sell the US dollar at VND21,410 a dollar, up VND150 a dollar day on day.
The real selling price of the greenback was VND390 a dollar higher than the officially listed price at banks, said the newswire.
Some experts said the falling of gold is also a reason for the strengthening of the greenback in local market since they were stocking the currency to buy gold illegally for reselling.
The bid and ask price at Vietcombank today were quoted at VND21,015 and VND21,021 a dollar, up VND2 a dollar day on day. The ask prices for the greenback at other commercial banks followed suit VCB move, though their bid prices were VND5-20 a dollar lower.
Interbank rate stay at its one-year high of VND20,813 a dollar.
The dollar in the free market in Hanoi were at VND21,250-21,300 for bid and ask.
The government has announced that Vietnam’s current account may ran a surplus of over $3 billion this year due to rising oversea remittance inflow of over $9 billion.
vietnamnet
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