State Bank of Vietnam to host second gold auction
Gold bars seen at a jewelry store in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran
The State Bank of Vietnam will auction 16,800 taels of gold bar to businesses Thursday for the second time.
The central bank will auction the same amount as the first auction on Tuesday, and buyers can bid to buy between 1,400 and 2,000 taels (a tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces), it said Wednesday.
It has not revealed the starting price.
In the last session prices started at VND81.30 million ($3,199.53) per tael and two businesses bid to buy 3,400 taels, or 20% of the total. The price was 1.45% lower than market rates.
Some industry insiders said that the high starting price is why only two out of 11 participants of the auction made bids.
On Wednesday gold bar price surged 1.8% to VND84 million per tael.
Also Wednesday Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai ordered the central bank to ensure a reasonable supply of gold to stabilize prices.
The last time the central bank sold gold bars was in 2013 when over 1.8 million taels were offloaded, with a total of 76 auctions.
