All gold trading activities via foreign accounts had been banned with the exception of any further trades needed t pay off contracts and close the accounts, the State Bank of Vietnam announced on its website on January 7.

All foreign gold accounts must be terminated by March 30.

Last week, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered all gold trading floors to be banned as of March 31, 2010. The order requires that all gold trading floors and all domestic accounts for gold trading to be terminated by that date.

With the new regulations, the State Bank of Vietnam will oversee all trading of the precious metal./.