Firms spend $28 mln on buying gold at central bank auction Tuesday

Nine bidders spent VND706.42 billion ($27.75 million) Tuesday on 7,900 taels of SJC brand gold bars at an auction held by Vietnam’s central bank.

The auction was part of several held by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to cool an ongoing gold fever in the country.

The participants bought the volume at VND89.42 million ($3,512) a tael, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said in a statement.

This was VND530,000 ($20.82) a tael higher than the winning price at the preceding auction on May 16 and VND820,000 higher than the price based on which bidders deposited money to join today’s auction.

At 2:42 p.m. Tuesday, Saigon Jewelry and Germ Stone Co. (SJC) quoted its gold bullion at VND88.6-90.6 million ($3,558.3) a tael for bids and asks, respectively, VND100,000 higher than its last quote in the morning.

Since resuming gold auctions last month after an 11-year hiatus, the SBV has sold a total of 35,100 taels in eight instances, three of them finding no buyers.

The central bank will hold another gold auction Thursday, aiming to increase supply and further narrow the domestic-global price gap.

Alongside increasing gold supply through the auctions, the SBV has launched inspections of gold traders to spot violations in trading, invoicing and compliance with tax regulations as part of its attempt to stabilize the gold and monetary markets.