The price of gold at the Saigon Jewelry Holding Co., Vietnam’s biggest gold trader, inched up VND230,000 to close at VND20.64 million per tael (1.2 ounces) in Ho Chi Minh City and VND20.66 million in Hanoi.

Huynh Trung Khanh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Gold Business Association and a consultant to the World Gold Council, said investors typically bought gold for savings and investment or for speculation. But these two trends have recently come together, making gold prices surge and the upwards trend is relatively sustainable, he said. Though gold prices increased, gold traders in HCMC and Hanoi said not many people engaged in buying and selling the metal.

At Hanoi-based Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewelry Company, trading was lively not in gold bars but in gold jewelry. Unlike earlier, people now do not rush to buy gold when its price jumps and sell when prices fall as they now have access more information from gold price forecasts, Khanh said. He said when the bullion reached VND19.6-19.7 million per tael in February, significantly up from VND16 million in July, 2008, many people sold out to take profits.

In Tokyo, gold edged down Friday on profit-taking after a rally this week, but hovered near a two-month high, supported by safe-haven demand as the dollar remained weak and US data on jobless claims and business conditions dented hopes for a quick return to growth.

Gold has risen about 2.3% this week, and traders said its upside was becoming limited ahead of a three-day weekend in the US and as current prices prompt some investors to take profits while others halt investment in gold-backed exchange-traded funds.

Spot gold fell 0.2% to US$951.75 per ounce at 06:58 GMT from New York’s notional close of $953.40.

US gold futures for June delivery GCM9 edged up 0.1% to $951.90 per ounce from $951.20 at their settlement on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.

In London, bullion for immediate delivery rose $1.60, or 0.2%, to $955.40 an ounce by 11:48 a.m. local time, erasing a drop. The commodity is up 2.5% this week. June futures added $4.30, or 0.5%, to $955.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division.