Foreign currency exchange shops on Ha Trung street in Hanoi yesterday afternoon said that the market was witnessing another wave of dollar price increases with yesterday’s price reaching VND17,320-17,400/US$1 (purchase and sale), an increase of VND200/US$1 over the previous day.

Meanwhile, the interbank exchange rate announced by the State Bank of Vietnam for yesterday, November 12, was VND16,496/US$1, or VND2/US$1 less than the previous day. The exchange rates applied by banks have remained stable at VND16,940-16,950/US$1.

When asked why the VND/US$ exchange rate on the black market in the last few days was higher than the ceiling level, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Giau said that it was because of speculation. However, as the volume of transactions on the black market just accounts for a small proportion, this will not affect the production and business of enterprises.

As for the domestic gold price, the price of bar gold yesterday decreased by VND50,000/tael over the previous day. SJC gold in Hanoi was quoted at VND16.56-16.66mil/tael (purchase and sale), Bao Tin Minh Chau gold VND16.55-16.61mil/tael. The current domestic price is still VND1.3mil/tael higher than the world’s price.

Investors are currently indifferent to the gold price decreases. The market is still quiet with very few transactions. Some experts say that people are not purchasing at this moment because these are not yet the bottom gold prices, and that people will wait until gold prices go down further.

People rushed to queue to purchase gold at the end of October when the gold price saw sharp falls. At that time, gold was trading at over VND16.6mil/tael.

Meanwhile, the world’s gold market on November 11 saw the sharp price fall of $13/oz to $731.4/oz during one trading session (the opening price was $744.7/oz).

Worries about the global economic recession not only have forced gold prices down, but have made the crude oil price lose $60/barrel. It is now $59.04/barrel, the deepest low in the last 19 months.

In Singapore’s market, A92 petrol on November 11 was $51.6/barrel, 0.25S diesel $73.03/barrel and mazut $263.17/tonne.