The Vietnamese dong fell this week on speculation gold imports bolstered demand for the dollar. Government bonds dropped. Limits on gold shipments have been removed for some companies as part of attempts to halt a surge in domestic prices, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Aug. 23, citing an unidentified official at Saigon Jewelry Co. Ltd. Immediate- delivery bullion traded at $1,770.75 an ounce as of 2:50 p.m. in Singapore. In Vietnam, gold rose to as high as 47.1 million dong ($2,263) per tael in Hanoi as of 3 p.m. local time, compared with 45.6 million dong yesterday, according to the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications. One tael is about 1.2 ounces. “Banks continued to buy dollars to import gold due to the significant gap between domestic and international gold prices,” Viet Capital Securities Joint-Stock Co. wrote in a note late yesterday. The dong fell 0.1 percent this week to 20,808 per dollar, as of 3 p.m. in Hanoi, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency was little changed today. It has weakened 1.1 percent this month, headed for the biggest decline since February. The central bank set the currency’s reference rate at 20,628 today, unchanged for a second day, according to its website. The local currency is allowed to trade up to 1 percent on either side of the fixing. “Surges in onshore gold prices above international prices spurred” demand for dollars to pay for imports of gold “and disrupted the dong’s stability achieved in the previous three months,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. wrote in a note yesterday. The yield on Vietnam’s five-year bonds climbed six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 12.56 percent this week, according to a daily fixing price from banks compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net

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