Gold jewelry at a store in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran
Vietnam gold prices partially recovered on Monday afternoon following an over 1% drop earlier in the session.
Saigon Jewelry Company gold bar price rose 0.55% from the morning to VND184.1 million (US$6,965.01) per tael, narrowing losses for the day to 0.49%. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.
Local bullion prices are still more than VND21 million per tael higher than global rates.
Gold ring price similarly rebounded to VND183.8 million per tael, also down 0.49% for the day.
Globally, spot gold shed 1.3% to $5,104 per ounce on Monday after falling more than 2% earlier in the session as an escalating Iran war squeezed world energy supplies, boosted the dollar and dampened hopes of interest-rate cuts, Reuters reported.
The dollar hovered near a three-month high hit last week, making bullion more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Oil-driven inflation fears and delayed rate-cut expectations likely strengthened U.S. yields and the dollar, outweighing safe-haven demand and pushing gold down.
Gold has still climbed about 18% so far this year, even as trading has turned choppy and upward momentum has stalled.
“In periods of geopolitically driven market stress, investors sometimes sell assets such as gold to raise cash,” said Christopher Wong, a strategist at OCBC, as quoted by Bloomberg. “Once that phase passes, geopolitical uncertainty typically continues to underpin demand for safe havens on dips.”
