Investing Or Trading In Gold In Malaysia

Some call it investing in gold. Some call it trading in call. :D

Some call it black, some call it white.

And one popular choice is them Kijang Coins offered by Maybank.

4 June 2009, I wrote the following posting. Did I Regret Not Buying Kijang Coins Back In December?

As highlighted in that posting, the actual performance of gold IN USD from 2nd December 2008 to 4 June 2009 saw gold increasing a whopping USD202.00 per oz or a very impressive 25.9%.

But the buyer of the kijang coins only saw a gain of only rm380.00 or just 12.2%.

Of course, as mentioned in that posting, a gain of 12.2% isn't too shabby. It's decent really, however, it pales in comparison to the actual movement of gold in USD.

Let me highlight back the table again.

Let's look at the two options offered. The buying of the actual Kijang coin itself.

Yeah, one can buy and store it all in one's Milo tin. Or you can even frame it all up. :D

Or you can just buy it in the form of the passbook.

Let's look at the coins.

Then selling price of the 1 oz Kijang coin was 3613.00. The buying price of 1 oz Kjang coin was 3499.00.

In layman's term, you buy from Mayban at 3613.00. And if you decide to sell back on the same day, Mayban is more than willing to buy back from you at 3499.00. The difference of 114.00 in the buy and sell price represents the cost of transaction in this 'investment' or 'trade' when you buy and sell Kijang coins.

Perhaps one might opt for the gold savings passbook. And as seen from the table above, there is the price differential of 8.49 between the buy and sell price. This is the cost of transaction in this 'investment' or 'trade'.

This is something one have to take note.

And of course, the kijang coins investment/trade is based on the price of gold priced in USD.

But then what one is paying in Ringgit.

Hence this variable is also important in this investment/trade.

Here is the chart of GOLD priced in MYR.

On 5th April, 1 oz Gold in MYR was priced at 3171. Today's price of gold is 3292. Gold appreciated 121.00 or 3.8%.

Here is the chart of GOLD priced in USD for the same exact period.



On 5th April, 1 oz of GOLD in USD was priced at 891. Today's price of gold is 932.00. Gold appreciated 41.00 or some 4.6%.

See the difference?

So it's not an 'easy' of no brainer investment/trade.

You have to watch the 'cost of your transactions'. And the each currency performance against the yellow metal is different. And needless to say, you have to take note of the performance of the ringgit against the USD too!