[HO CHI MINH CITY] State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on Tuesday (Apr 23) held its first gold bar auction after an 11-year suspension in an effort to stabilise the market amid record-high prices.

SBV sold 3,400 taels of SJC-branded gold bars at the auction for between 81.32 million dong (S$4,355) and 81.33 million dong per tael. It is only one-fifth of a total of 16,800 taels offered at a reserve price of 81.3 million dong per tael.

The imbalance between supply and demand has driven domestic prices of the commodity in the South-east Asian country well above global prices, with gaps widening to as much as 18 million dong for each tael at some points this year.