Gold is not an attractive investment channel than it used to be in 2013.-- Photo baomoi.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The State Bank of Viet Nam sold all of 20,000 taels of gold offered on its 76th auction on the last day of 2013 to 16 credit institutions at VND34.66-34.69 million ($1,650-1,651) while the gold prices sunk to their bottoms in the markets.

In Viet Nam, the Saigon Jewellery Company (SJC) posted gold prices between VND34.37-34.77million ($1,636-1,655) on its website. According to the local calculation, each tael of gold lost VND12 million($571) in one year, as much as the reduction of 26 per cent from 2012. It was also the lowest price for gold since November, 2010

Meanwhile on the kitco.com trading floor gold was selling at $1,199.10 per ounce, or $1,449.1 per tael and the Reuters.com said that the precious metal was  heading for its biggest annual decline in more than three decades because investors shifted money to equities.

After the bank has sold nearly 1.820 million taels of gold since its first auction in March, prices in Viet Nam remained $206 higher per tael than global gold rates.— VNS