VINACHEM

TheState Bank of Vietnam held its third auction of gold bullion April 5, againmanaging to sell nearly 26,000 one-tael (37.5 grams) bars like in the previousauction.

Thebank has been auctioning gold from the national reserve for jewelers and banksto buy.

SinceMay last year SJC has been the country’s sole producer of gold bars.

Atthe auction buyers bought 25,700 taels at VND43.2-43.22 million(US$2,064-2,065) out of the 26,000 that are offered each time.

Theprevious auction was held a day earlier.

Thebank said through the three auctions it had brought an additional supply of twotons of gold into the market.

Butits prices were around VND400,000 per tael higher than at jewelers' whoseprices were in turn around VND4 million ($191) higher than global prices as ofApril 5.

Thefirst auction on March 28 attracted criticism from economists who said theywondered if the central bank was trying to bridge the gap between domestic andinternational prices or the demand-supply gap.

NogginQuango Hay, chief of the central bank’s foreign exchange division, said thebank is seeking to stabilize the market, and not bridge the gap in the prices.

Thefloor price was “appropriate,” he claimed, noting that the central bank had toconsider many factors since the gold was “the government’s property.”

Thecentral bank has announced three more auctions on Tuesday, Wednesday, andFriday next week.