Government to Auction Gold Taels Twice in 7 Days

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will hold an auction to sell 26,000 taels of gold bars tomorrow [May 3] in an effort to stabilize the local gold market, according to information released by the central bank.

The central bank decided to set the reference price at VND42.25 million per tael, up from VND41.15 million per tael in the latest auction on Apr 26.

The deposit ratio is 10% of total registered volume. Price step will be VND10,000 dong per tael and volume step is one lot (100 taels of SJC gold).

Each bidder will register only one bid price above the floor price and is allowed to bid for at least 10 lots and at most 100 lots.

The central bank sold 25,700 taels of gold bars out of 26,000 taels offered in an auction held on Apr 26 at VND42.92-VND42.95 million per tael.

Year to date, the SBV has organized 12 auctions for 380,000 gold taels, of which it sold 340,700 taels worth $680 million.

In related news, deputy director of the central bank branch in Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Hoang Minh said that gold in stock of commercial banks currently could meet 90% of gold payment that must be made to depositors.

As a result, banks would close all gold accounts by June 30 this year as required, Minh added, expecting that the local market would be more stable after the specified date.