Gold treads water

Sacombank Jewelry Company bought gold at VND43.05 million and sold at VND43.45 million as of 8:10am Vietnamese time.

Saigon Jewelry Company, the biggest gold processing and trading company in Vietnam, collected gold at VND43.1 million and sold at VND43.5 million as of 9:15am Vietnamese time.

Hanoi-based Phu Quy Jewelry Company purchased SJC-brand gold at VND43.4 million and sold at VND43.63 million at 9:47am Vietnamese time.

Meanwhile, Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewelry Company quoted the price at VND42.45 million for buying, and VND42.7 million for selling at 12:10pm Vietnamese time.

Domestically, SJC-brand gold fetched around VND2.1 million a tael, higher than global price.

According to gold traders, bullion market became muted as gold usually makes correction by year end. People no longer rushed to buy gold, whereas some gold keepers started to sell gold, Sacombank Jewelry Company said.

On the black market, one dollar was bought at VND21,240, and sold at VND21,280,an increase of VND20 per dollar in buying price, and VND30 per dollar in selling price over the previous day.

Gold slid as much as $9.6 an ounce, or 0.6 percent, to close at $1,606.4 an ounce on the Comex in New York.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 1 percent from a day earlier to 1,254.57 tons, the lowest since early November.

In Asia, gold inched up this morning as upbeat US economic data encouraged investors. Data showing a drop in the US jobless claims bolstered optimism that the economy was gaining momentum, encouraging modest gains in equities and commodities. However, bullion remained under depreciation as a persistent gloom hung over the eurozone weighing on sentiment.

Spot gold regained $7 an ounce to trade at $1,613.4 at 10am Vietnamese time.

The euro exchange rate against the US dollar was just above $1.3 a euro in Tokyo this morning.