A staff member of SJC (L) is seen in a gold transaction with an unidentifi ed customer - Photo: Kinh Luan
When global gold increased slightly last Friday, the local price rallied much faster, thus widening the difference between world and domestic prices to VND3.3 million per tael from some VND2.6 million recorded early last week.
Gold at Saigon Jewelry Holding Company (SJC) last Friday marked up by around VND500,000 per tael to VND45.5 million for buying and VND45.8 million for selling. Meanwhile, the global price rose by only US$3.8 an ounce from the trading session on Thursday.
According to a representative of SJC, unlike the busy trading early last week when gold dropped by up to VND1 million per tael, SJC transactions during the rest of the week totaled around 1,000 taels. This figure was equivalent to the trading volume in the days before Government Decree 24 on gold trading management took effect on January 10.
However, customers have mainly bought gold in recent days after selling hefty volumes previously. Gold supply has turned scarce, pushing up the local price, he added.
Transactions at banks in general are not high. According to the director of a bank licensed to trade gold, customers prefer transacting with gold firms and banks known for gold trading, which is also the reason why SJC and banks like ACB and Sacombank always have more customers than other banks.
Moreover, the banker said that his bank would carefully consider trading gold with customers as the yellow metal holds price risk and many banks did not have experience in gold trading.
According to SJC, the restriction on gold selling points has not helped increase SJC’s profit as the firm no longer transacts with gold shops. Besides, gold trading depends much on price changes as customers often sell gold when the price is high and vice versa.
Moreover, SJC is not a bank, so it cannot refuse transactions with customers. Therefore, it is not true that SJC has benefited much from Decree 24, said SJC’s representative.
The Saigon Times Daily
