Opening this morning, the price of SJC gold at Saigon Jewelry Company was listed at 36.35 - 36.51 million VND/tael (buy - sell), an increase of 10,000 VND/tael in both directions compared to the trading session early this morning.
The difference between the buying and selling prices is 160,000 VND/tael.
DOJI Group listed gold prices at 36.37 - 36.47 million VND/tael (buy - sell), an increase of 20,000 VND/tael for both buying and selling compared to the early trading session yesterday afternoon.
The difference in selling price is still 100,000 VND/tael higher than the buying price.
New York Mercantile Exchange's December gold contract on Comex decreased by 1.3% to $1,208.6/ounce. The weekend session ended at $1,207.30, a four-week low.
Gold prices fell sharply this week due to the strong increase in US dollar and US government bond yields after the US Congress election in midterms. The Fed affirmed that the US economy is still growing sustainably and will continue to increase basic interest rates in the coming time.
Four of the professional investors, or 20%, survey respondents from Kitco News predict gold prices will increase next week. While up to 12 people predicted prices would decrease (60%) and 4 (20%) predicted prices would remain flat.
Meanwhile, 178 amateur investors, accounting for 48%, predicted gold prices to increase next week, 109 (29%) predicted a decrease and 83 (22%) were neutral.
Although it has only gone through the first week, November 2018 is predicted to be a disappointing month for gold as prices are fluctuating near a 4-week low. This decrease was blamed by some gold investors for the disastrous decline in the oil market.
WTI oil prices have fallen nearly 22% over the past 5 weeks, down from a 4-year peak reached in early October 2018. In addition, the market has just witnessed a series of consecutive declines of 10 sessions, the longest in the history of oil prices.
According to Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, he is not surprised that gold prices have struggled as the decline in oil prices has created extremely pessimistic sentiment across all crude commodity markets. He added that lower oil prices will affect commodity index funds and this will negatively affect gold prices.
Although the gold market is not in a good state, Mr. Hansen said he is not ready to sell, instead he has a neutral stance on the precious metal in the short term. "I can't completely think negatively about gold because I don't think oil price decline is sustainable. The stock market may continue to weaken and that supports gold prices," he said.
