Hang Fung to sell a ton of gold

One ton of gold is equal to around 32,151 troy ounces.

Spot gold surged more than 3% on Monday to record high of above $1,030 per ounce as the dollar tumbled on deepening US financial concerns. The precious metal broke $1,000 on Friday.

“We are gradually melting and selling the gold,” Lai told Reuters. She added the firm had started the process right after gold prices reached $1,000 last Friday.

See did not say how much gold it has sold since the start of the process.

“We will be watching prices in coming days, or weeks,” Lai said, without elaborating on the timeframe of the completion of the sale and costs of the gold.

But she said costs for the bulk of the firm's gold exhibits were below $600.

After the sale of one ton of gold, Hang Fung would hold about 4 tons of gold holdings, Lai said.

She said the firm wanted to keep 2 to 3 tons of gold exhibits for its showrooms, indicating that it would sell at least another ton of gold in the future.

The firm in early January had sold one ton of gold at $850 to $855 per ounce, creating a profit of about $12.8 million, Lai said. It had spent about one month to process the sale.

Hang Fung had melted 1 ton of gold exhibits into bars with 99.99% purity for the sale in the Hong Kong market, its chairman Sai Wing Lam said on January 4.

Lam then said the firm wanted to keep about 1.5 tons of gold and would sell a ton at a time. (Reuters)