Gold investors have just experienced a period of sluggish trading when prices continuously decreased sharply. Since the beginning of June, SJC gold bar prices have decreased by tens of millions of VND per tael.
On June 1st, SJC gold bar prices were listed around the threshold of 156-159 million VND/tael (buying - selling). By June 9th, SJC gold bar prices were listed by some businesses at 138.8-143.8 million VND/tael (buying - selling).
Thus, in just over a week, SJC gold bar prices have decreased by 17.2 million VND/tael on the buying side and decreased by 15.2 million VND/tael on the selling side.
Notably, in the context of gold prices plummeting, the buying - selling price difference continues to widen. If on June 1st, the buying - selling price difference of SJC gold bars was at 3 million VND/tael, by June 9th, this gap had been pushed up to 5 million VND/tael.
Present at a gold, silver and gemstone business store in Cau Giay, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa (Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that seeing gold prices fall sharply, she came to buy a little to accumulate. However, when monitoring the price list, she was quite surprised because the buying - selling difference was pulled up too high.
I saw the price decrease, so I wanted to buy a little to accumulate. But business units adjusted the difference too high. If I buy at this time, the price must increase by another 5 million VND/tael to be able to break even if I resell. Thus, the risk is too high for small retailers. I see that keeping the price like this, the store pushes all risks to customers" - Ms. Hoa said.
Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Van An (Van Mieu, Hanoi) said that after the wedding, his family received wedding gold from relatives. When gold prices fell sharply, he planned to buy a part more to accumulate and later can use it back in weddings.
I am quite shocked to see the difference between buying and selling prices is too high. I don't know if there are any regulations on this issue that stores can list such a large distance. I don't understand if stores are afraid of losing customers. In fact, currently many places are increasing the difference, so buyers also don't know how to choose" - Mr. An shared.
Experts have repeatedly warned that the expansion of the buying-selling price difference by gold businesses may increase risks for buyers. Talking to Lao Dong reporters, Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu - an economic expert said that when the buying-selling difference is pushed too high, individual investors almost suffer a significant loss immediately after buying if they have to resell.
According to Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu, with SJC gold bars, the buying - selling difference of around 1-2 million VND/tael is already high, because buyers have to wait for the price to increase correspondingly to be able to break even. When this gap is pushed up to 3-5 million VND/tael, the risk becomes very large, especially for those who buy based on crowd psychology or short-term surfing expectations.
This expert believes that in the context of strong gold price fluctuations, the wider the difference, the more disadvantages lean towards buyers, while gold businesses have more buffers to prevent price fluctuation risks.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dinh Nho Bang - Chairman of the Vietnam Gold Business Association - once analyzed that when the market fluctuates strongly, businesses expanding the buying - selling range is a business trick to limit risks for the business unit itself.
However, the consequence is that gold buyers have to bear a large difference, especially in the context of rapid gold price fluctuations, the psychology of fearing missing opportunities easily makes individual investors buy in unfavorable price ranges.
