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Gold rises: People buy small quantities for luck
On Monday afternoon, most gold shops on Phan Dinh Phung Street in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City raised quoted prices to VND45 million per tael.
The Kim Thanh Hao gold shop in Phu Nhuan District quoted selling SJC gold prices at VND45 million per tael with buying prices at VND44.5 million. Discrepancies between buying and selling prices in this vicinity have been expanded to VND500,000 per tael.
At Kim Thanh shop, the SJC buying price is VND44.5 million while selling price is quoted at VND44.9 million. At Kim Xuan shop, SJC gold is quoted at VND44.52 million for buying prices and sold at VND44.88 million.
As this is the Tet holiday and major gold trading enterprises like SJC, PNJ, SBJ, NHJ stay closed (today is the first day of the lunar new year of the dragon), most gold shops quote prices based on spying against other competitors in the vicinity and based on world prices.
According to Tran Ngoc Thuy of Kim Thanh Hao gold shop, the gold market these days is sluggish with most buyers buying small quantities (like 1/10th of a tael of half a tael) as a token of luck only.
The owner of Kim Xuan gold shop said many people asked to buy gold bars worth 1/10th of a tael only to be disappointed as such small-value bars are now out of stock.
According to a gold shop owner, 2011 is the year of great difficulties for the gold market with profits falling.
Nevertheless, Ms. Ngoc Thuy is expecting domestic gold prices to increase after Tet as business is not good these days and therefore, gold is still a safe investment channel.
On the world market, gold jumped to its highest in more than a month on Monday as Tokyo futures rose on buying from investors, but gains could be limited by a weaker euro after Greece and its private creditors failed to strike a crucial deal to avoid a messy default, Reuters reported.
Gold rose 0.75 percent to $1,670.18 an ounce by 0558 GMT as gains on Tokyo futures spilled into the cash market after hitting a high of $1,672.89, its strongest since mid-December.
Gold has risen more than 6 percent so far this year, but stayed below a lifetime high of around $1,920 hit last September.
According to Reuters, the most active gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, December, added 34 yen a gram to 4,149 yen after rising as high as 4,152 yen a gram, its strongest since mid-December.
U.S. February gold added $8.3 to $1,672.30 an ounce.
vietnamnet
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