Nghe An: Gold prices plummet suddenly, people hoard money in anticipation.

Instead of crowding and rushing to sell gold when prices peaked, the number of people coming to trade has sharply decreased after prices dropped by nearly 3 million VND/ounce compared to two days earlier. Photo: Thanh Phuc

At gold, silver, and gemstone shops on Cao Thang Street (Vinh City), instead of the crowds of people trading on February 24th and 25th, when gold prices peaked at 49-49.7 million VND/ounce, this morning (December 26th), the number of people coming to exchange and buy/sell this precious metal has significantly decreased as gold prices have plummeted.

The listed gold prices at reputable gold shops in Vinh City range from 45.5 - 45.8 million VND/ounce (SJC gold, buying price) and 47.80 - 48.0 million VND/ounce (SJC gold, selling price); 9999 gold rings are priced at 45 million VND/ounce (buying price) and 48.5 million VND/ounce (selling price).

A major gold and silver shop owner in Vinh said: “Gold prices are constantly fluctuating. By this morning, they had dropped by 1 million VND/ounce compared to yesterday and by nearly 2 million VND/ounce compared to February 24th. When gold prices rose, people rushed to sell to make a profit. Now that gold prices have fallen, those who own gold are not in a hurry to sell, and those with money are not in a hurry to buy because they fear further fluctuations. The fear of speculating during this period of volatile gold prices has led to a sharp decrease in trading volume…”

The volatile price of gold is causing people to be quite cautious when trading gold at this sensitive time. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Due to the volatile price of gold, both the public and gold speculators are being very cautious, monitoring the market and checking prices before making any purchase or sale decisions. "Gold has dropped by more than 2 million dong compared to yesterday. Even with the sharp drop, the price is still high, so I don't dare buy," said Mr. Nguyen The Ha.

Gold shop owners, being cautious due to the volatile gold prices, have proactively widened the spread between buying and selling prices. Previously, the difference was only around 500,000-700,000 VND/ounce for buying and selling, but now it is 2.0-2.5 million VND/ounce to ensure safety.

Meanwhile, people are quite cautious when bringing gold to sell. Many only inquire about the price, and if they don't get a good deal, they take it back home instead of selling immediately. Ms. Dang Thanh H. (Dai Dong, Thanh Chuong) has two gold bars that were a wedding gift to her husband, and she plans to sell them to build a house. When she inquired about the gold price in Dung town, she found it had decreased, so she went to Vinh to see if she could get a better price. However, the current sharp drop in gold prices has made her hesitant. "Yesterday, I read the newspaper and saw that gold prices were high, and I needed to sell, but after one day, the two gold bars lost nearly 3 million dong, so I decided not to sell them anymore."

That's also the general sentiment among many people when deciding to trade gold during this sensitive time. Therefore, the gold market in Nghe An has been quite quiet since gold prices reversed their downward trend.