The price of SJC-branded gold bars in the domestic market has been kept unchanged for 6 weeks in a row despite the rising global gold price.

The four State-owned commercial banks, namely Agribank, BIDV, Vietcombank and Vietinbank, and the Saigon Jewelry and Germ Stone Co. (SJC) sold SJC-branded gold bars to the public at VND76.98 million ($3.024) per tael on July 17.

The rate has been kept unchanged from June 6.

The gold prices in Vietnam are now around VND980,000 ($38.5) a tael higher than the global price, much lower than a gap of VND20 million ($785) at a peak recorded at the beginning of June.

The four banks and the SJC have been solely permitted to directly purchase SJC gold bars from the State Bank of Vietnam to sell to the public from June 3 as part of measures to stabilize the gold market.