Index goes down on low trade
VN-Index goes down on low trade
11:22' 12/06/2007 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - The Ho Chi Minh Securities Trading Centre today witnessed a continuous decline of the VN-Index when it slipped 16.61 points in the final trading session to close at 1040.75 points.
Closing the session, the market’s total trading volume fell strongly to 5.05 million shares worth VND566 billion, down 23.1% from the earlier session.
The falling trading volume was mainly due to STB, the biggest stock on the southern bourse which was diluted this morning, prompting its price to drop to VND75,000 from VND78,500 each.
Obviously, investors holding STB did not want to sell shares in the hope of a higher price.
Therefore, the trading volume of STB yesterday was 777,460 shares, only one-third of the volume of last weekend.
While 34 stocks actually managed to rise, 54 stocks fell in today’s session including the blue chips FPT (-VND10,000), HBC (-VND6,000), PVD (-VND6,000), NKD (-VND6,000) and ALT (-VND5,000).
Other blue chips like BMC, TCT, SGH, LGC, and HAX were among the winners of the day, rising to nearly 5% of the trading limit.
Similar to the Ho Chi Minh City market, the Ha Noi bourse this morning was down 5.34 points to close at 322.31. Its total trading volume was more than 1.2 million shares worth VND122 billion. Out of a total 86 stocks, 55 went down, 16 rose and 15 remained unchanged.
VietNamNet - VN-Index goes down on low trade
VNPT offers technical support
VNPT offers technical support to Incombank in service deal
12/06/2007 -- 4:14 PM
Ha Noi (VNA) - Viet Nam Post and Telecommunication Group (VNPT) on June 11 signed an agreement to provide Industrial Commercial Bank of Viet Nam (Incombank) technical support in expanding its financial network.
In return, Incombank will provide the State-owned telecom firm with additional financial services.
Incombank recently lent over 2.3 trillion VND (143.75 million USD) to VNPT's Viet Nam Satellite project.
"The cooperation between the bank and VNPT is very important for the development of both partners and is in line with the country's integration into the global economy," said Incombank general director Pham Huy Hung.
Vietnam News Agency (VNA)
struggle to keep inflation low
Officials struggle to keep inflation low
12/06/2007 -- 4:53 PM
Ha Noi (VNA) – Although the prices of goods and services have continued to rise, officials still believe the country will meet its target of keeping inflation below the rate of growth in GDP.
The Ministry of Finance forecasted that the consumers price index (CPI) would rise 0.5 per cent in June, lifting inflation in the first six months to roughly 4.7 to 4.8 per cent. The nation has targeted a growth rate of 8.2-8.5 per cent for the year.
This means the country will have to struggle to keep inflation in the second half of the year below 3.5 per cent, officials said.
“Even without any signs of price fever in the last months of the year, price movement in the period will remain complicated,” said director of the Ministry of Finance’s Price Management Department, Nguyen Tien Thoa.
Thoa said many factors could cause prices to spike in the latter half of the year, leaving consumer prices unlikely to return to “normal” levels as against prices during 2004-05.
Besides the unexpected volatility in global financial and monetary market, Thoa attributed rising costs to shortages of raw materials supplies on the world market, causing a domino effect on prices of goods and services.
Viet Nam was still largely dependent on imported materials such as petroleum and steel ingot. Prices of transportation, electricity, building materials, and food products have all increased in the wake of rising fuel prices.
Moreover, Thoa said, the country was still struggling with the effects of natural disasters and epidemics, including bird flu outbreaks. Unhealthy competition, speculation and fraud have all contributed to rising prices.
Thoa also that prices were often seen to make their highest increases during the October – December period prior to the Tet (lunar new year) holiday.
This means authorities will have a tough road ahead to keep a lid on consumer prices throughout the rest of the year and meet the nation’s target to keep the rise in CPI below the GDP growth rate.
The Government has already urged relevant bodies to take bold measures aimed at controlling prices. Besides balancing supply and demand of goods and services, the Government has also ordered authorities to stamp out epidemics and improve natural disaster prevention.
Financial measures include tax and fee policies to lower input costs.
The Government has given petrol dealers the freedom to decide retail petrol prices, so it would also monitor prices closely to ensure that petrol dealers do not collude to raise prices or manipulate the market.
Vietnam News Agency (VNA)
Foreign investment in Vietnam
Foreign investment in Vietnam hits a record high
Updated, 06/11/2007, 11:00 GMT
Vietnam hit a record high in attracting foreign investment with a total capital of US$5.2 billion in the past five months.
The growth rate of more than 30 percent was achieved in terms of disbursed capital, export value and budget contribution.
Many of 400 foreign investment projects which have been granted licenses in the first half of this year are in poor and remote areas such as Thai Nguyen, Ha Giang, Cao Bang and Son La.
The achievements are thanks to the Government’s open-door policy encouraging foreign investors to engage in projects for the import-export of seafood, garments and electronic components.
However, compensation for land clearance is still the biggest challenge to the implementation of projects, especially relating to real estate development.
In the reviewed period, an additional US$2.1 billion capital was spent on building workshops and purchasing machines. The figure was an increase of 30 percent compared to the same period last year but accounted for one-third of the plan target.
In the near future, the Ministry of Planning and Investment will propose the Prime Minister issue a decree on attracting foreign investment and issuing an investment list of projects in the 2006-2010 period.
Economics