Gold prices continue to decline Monday afternoon

It had plunged 3% from the weekend in the morning session. It has fallen by 13.07% from its historic peak of VND92 million (US$3,619.91) seen on May 10. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.

Gold ring price also decreased by 0.4% from the morning session to VND75 million per tael.

The price drop came as four state-owned lenders began selling gold bars to retail consumers on Monday afternoon at prices around 1.2% lower than market rates.

Agribank, BIDV, VietinBank and Vietcombank bought gold from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) for VND78.98 million (US$3,106.39) per tael.

Globally, gold prices were little changed on Monday as traders awaited more U.S. economic data this week after a recent report showed that inflation stabilised and lifted hopes for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year, Reuters reported.

Spot gold was nearly unchanged at $2,323.87 per ounce, as of 0752 GMT. Bullion was up nearly 2% in May.

U.S. gold futures fell 0.1% to $2,344.40.