Despite the drizzly Hanoi weather this morning (March 14), many people were still queuing at several gold shops on Tran Nhan Tong Street to engage in transactions. The high demand for gold rings has caused a shortage of supply, prompting some stores to limit each person to a maximum purchase of 3 taels of gold for immediate pick-up. For purchases exceeding this limit, customers have to wait until after April 14 to have gold available.
Customers are only allowed to buy 3 taels of gold rings for immediate pick-up in one day (photo: Ngoc Mai).
Ms. Nguyen Thoa (in Ba Dinh district) said: “I bought 5 pieces of SJC gold for 80.9 million dong/tael, with a total bill of over 400 million dong. I have been constantly referring to the gold price chart for the past 2 weeks. If the gold price rises sharply, I will sell it for profit. When the price decreases, I feel confident in holding onto the gold.”
Counting the pieces of gold put into her bag, Ms. Thoa hopes that the piece of gold will reach 90 million dong/tael in the next few days.
Customers are waiting to pick up 5 taels of SJC gold bought at a price of over 80 million dong/tael (photo: Ngoc Mai).
Standing in line for 15 minutes, Ms. Minh Tuyet (in Hoang Mai) said she bought 9 pieces of gold rings at a price of 70.8 million dong/tael. However, Ms. Tuyet only received 3 pieces of gold rings and still has 6 pieces of gold to be collected at the store on April 14. The store also instructed Ms. Tuyet that she can sell the appointment slip anytime before the availability of gold.
Moreover, for customers who buy 10 taels of gold rings or more, the store deducts 250,000 dong/tael from the selling price.
By near noon, due to the high demand from customers and many stores have not yet coordinated the SJC gold, many customers have to wait to see if the store has gold available for immediate sale.
Mr. Minh Khoa (in Hoan Kiem district) who registered to buy 9 pieces of SJC gold shared: “The store staff told me to wait for 30 minutes to pick up gold transferred from other locations. This morning, I saw the gold price at 80.9 million dong/tael but by the time I arrived at the store, the gold price had increased to 81.5 million dong/tael.”
Customers sitting and waiting to buy gold on March 14 (photo: Ngoc Mai).
By 2.30 pm, the price of SJC gold piece increased by 700,000 dong for both buying and selling, compared to the start of the day, reaching 79.7 – 81.7 million dong. This is higher than the end of the previous day by 800,000 to 1.3 million dong. Thus, compared to the historical peak, each tael of gold piece is currently only 800,000 dong lower.
The difference between buying and selling prices has narrowed to around 2 million dong per tael. Compared to the peak set two days ago, each tael of gold piece is now about 1.5 million dong lower. Plain gold rings at SJC at the beginning of the day also increased by 500,000 dong to reach 67.6 – 68.9 million dong per tael. At Bao Tin Minh Chau, plain rings are nearly 68.7 – 70.8 million dong, increasing by 1.8 million dong compared to the end of the previous day. Compared to the peak, each tael of plain rings of various brands is currently 1-1.5 million dong lower.
At the same time, the world gold price is at 2,167 USD/ounce, a slight decrease of 3 USD/ounce compared to the end of the morning.
Store staff counting 9 pieces of SJC gold to hand over to customers after collecting gold from other stores (photo: Ngoc Mai).
The domestic gold price fluctuates more rapidly than the world price, with the difference between the piece of gold and the world price ranging from 16-17 million dong, and the price of gold rings varying around 4-5 million dong per tael, depending on the time of the day.
