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Stock market to jump up in first half of 2011, experts predict

In Uncategorized on January 8, 2011 at 4:26 am

Vietnam’s stock market will roar back in the first half of the year on the US’s bullish market, financial experts expect.

(Photo:Minh Tri)

The stock market in Vietnam last year were effected by many macroeconomic factors, while nearby markets including Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand were boosted by the US’s financial bailouts, said M.A. Le Dat Chi, head of the financial investment faculty of the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City.


“A part of the US$600 billion bailout of the US flew into Asian markets, especially emerging ones. It was just a small proportion for the US market, but it did make big impact to emerging markets, except of Vietnam,” Tri said.


Only investors holding control stake in listed enterprises made profits from dividends as the VN-Index dropped to 430 points in the last quarter of last year, with many shares slumping to incredible levels, he said.


“Vietnam’s stock market is at the bottom, with the ratio of dividends per share equal to 15 percent. This rate is extremely attractive to some investment funds,” the economist said.


“Besides, investors’ confidence in a successful Eleventh Party Congress with new members elected into the central committee will boost the market sentiment. Foreign investments will flow stronger into the stock market, which hit the bottom. Therefore, the market will likely to roar back in 2011.”


Statistics showed nearly the foreign indirect investments (FII) pour into the stock market last year reached $1 billion. Stabilizing the foreign exchange rate should be the top priority this year to attract more FII, Tri noticed.


The financial expert also recommended that more adequate taxes on shares will attract more foreign investors.


“Instead of asking foreigners either to pay security before entering the market or not to sell shares in at least one year, we can impose taxes on the dividend from their share investments,” he suggested


Stock market analysts also predict the market will likely to recover strongly in the first half of the year on the increase of the US market.


“The US dollar getting weaker in the first half of 2011 will be good news for the country’s stock market. However, it will be stronger again in the last half. The market’s winning run will likely to last until June, with Dow Jones Index climbing 12,600 points,”  Tri said.


Statistics showed the stock market usually climbs up in March, April and December every year.


However, the market is still carrying some risks including the US dollar getting stronger constantly, warned Pham Xuan Anh, deputy head of the brokerage BIDV-BSC’s market analysis unit.


“Standard Chartered Bank expected the foreign exchange of Vietnam dong and dollar will reach VND20,800 per dollar at the end of the year, a year-on-year increase of around 6.6 percent,” said Tri.


“The Asia Development Bank last September predicted Vietnam’s inflation in 2010 would rise to 7.5 percent, caused by a weakening dong and an increase in food prices.”


Low foreign currency reserve and large amounts of dollar and gold owned by residents would put the central bank in difficult time, Tri added.

Source: SGGP

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National gold exchange to be set up

In Uncategorized on January 8, 2011 at 4:25 am

Vietnam’s National Financial Supervisory Commission said it has asked the government to open an official gold exchange in 2011 to decrease the dependence of Vietnam’s economy on US dollars and restore order to the market of this precious metal.  Government officials will discuss a concrete plan for the setting up of the national exchange next week, said Le Xuan Nghia, vice chairperson of the commission.


 


He said in other countries, gold is kept in reserve centers, under the management of the central Bank. In Vietnam, the ratio of gold controlled by the ordinary people is very high. He added that the state bank should help to mobilize the capital in gold in the population, by acting as the largest controller of gold and the final buyer and seller in the gold market. “The establishment of the Gold Exchange will help investors trade in gold methodically under the risk control of the State. The exchange is also a place where managing agencies can supervise, regulate and intervene in the market,” said NFMC Vice Chairman Le Xuan Nghia.


 

Under the project, the State Bank of Vietnam will establish a joint stock company to monitor and manage the operation of the exchange and build a technical infrastructure system to manage gold trading activities. Investors will buy and sell gold under the form of certificates.  The exchange will operate like a stock exchange in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Gold will be traded in the form of certificates.


 


The launch of the exchange will allow investors to invest in gold officially, and at the same time, help authorities manage the market, Nghia said. He also informed that the government should apply the mechanism of issuing bonds in gold, allowing commercial banks to carry out services of refunding and rediscounting gold. Besides, commercial banks can be permitted to reserve gold as a foreign currency.


 


Vietnam closed all 20 gold exchanges in the country from March. The central bank said the closure was necessary to eliminate risks posed to the national financial system. After the shutdown, however, some illegal trading floors for gold ‘popped up’. This was because many investors still wanted to trade gold using accounts despite the huge risks involved.


 


Many experts proposed that this project would help stabilize, manage and develop the gold market better, as well as promote the role of the capital source in economic development.


Before, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) proposes this project to the Prime Minister, a national gold exchange Department should be set up.  The Gold Exchange, which will be a state funded organization, will ensure the equity in the market and avoid any unnecessary price increases that may damage our economy, said Nguyen Manh, Head of BIDV’s Capital and Capital Business Department.


 


 

Source: SGGP

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National Sports Festival wraps up

In Uncategorized on January 8, 2011 at 4:14 am




National Sports Festival wraps up


QĐND – Saturday, January 01, 2011, 21:7 (GMT+7)

The sixth National Games wrapped up at the Tien Son Sports Palace in the coastal city of Danang on December 31.


The organising board presented VND2 million to each athlete who set a national record.


According to the board’s statistics, 102 athletes set national records at the festival.


The games were participated by 66 sports delegations comprising nearly 8,700 athletes competing in 12 sport disciplines and sub-categories.


At the closing ceremony, the organising board handed over the sports festival’s flag to Nam Dinh which will host the event in 2014.


Source: VOV


 


 


Source: QDND

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Tax cut by up to 6 percent on 1,000 imports

In Uncategorized on January 8, 2011 at 4:10 am




Tax cut by up to 6 percent on 1,000 imports


QĐND – Thursday, January 06, 2011, 21:17 (GMT+7)

Nearly 1,000 goods items would enjoy an import tax cut of 1-6 percent in 2011, according to the Ministry of Finance’s Taxation Policy Department.


Director of the department Vu Van Truong said the items would mainly include agricultural produce, seafood, construction materials and electrical appliances.


The average drop for most items would be 2-3 percent, said Truong.


The cut, part of Vietnam’s commitment to the World Trade Organisation, was expected to benefit domestic consumers, giving them a wider choice of reasonably priced imported goods, Truong said.


However, he warned that the cut would also place pressure on Vietnamese goods that would face fierce competition from imported products.


Trade experts were also concerned about a predicted surge in the country’s trade deficit next year in the wake of the import tax cut.


The country imported 84 billion USD worth of goods last year, up 20 percent over the previous year with a trade deficit of 12.3 billion USD.


This year, the country plans on restricting the trade deficit to 14.18 billion USD with an import value of roughly 92 billion USD.


Last year, roughly 2,000 goods including food, animal feed, construction materials and steel also enjoyed an import tax cut of 1-6 percent, which cost the State budget roughly 1 trillion VND (51.28 million USD).


Source: VNA


Source: QDND

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Builders release promotional packs to heat up market

In Uncategorized on January 8, 2011 at 4:06 am

House builders in Ho Chi Minh City made debuts of many projects on new houses and apartments with a lot of promotional programs in an attempt to thaw the frozen market.

(Photo:Minh Tri)

The property firm Thuduc House (TDH) planned to kick off its sales of the TDH – Phuoc Binh apartment building in District 9 next year. The construction on foundation and basement of the 5-storey building was finished, the firm announced.


Thuduc House offers the first ten buyers a discount of VND15 million (US$750). Customers buying 3-8 apartments will be offered a 1-2.5 percent discount, while ones paying in advance 50-70 percent of the apartment’s value will enjoy a 2-3 percent discount.


Nha Pho Viet Nam JSC released a big promotional pack for its apartment building City Garden in Binh Thanh District, inviting visitors to attend a drawing contest to win a discount of up to VND200 million – 1.4 billion. Another property company Dat Xanh JSC starts the “Buying an apartment – Winning a car” program.


A construction firm Phuoc Thanh announced on December 15 to start selling the first phase of its property project named Hoang Kim The Gia in Binh Tan District with the price of VND900 million ($45,000) only. Buyers will also get an discount of VND30 million, the firm said.


Phuoc Thanh’s investment manager Danh Thanh Xuan said a large amount of buying orders forced his company to sell apartments before the building construction finish.


“Four main asset classes now are property, stock market, foreign currency and gold. However, foreign exchange rate is fluctuating, with the US dollar getting stronger day by day; while gold surged too high now,” said Nguyen Vu Bao Hoang, Thuduc House’s deputy general director.


“Stock market, meanwhile, shows some signs of recovering. I expected investors will soon return to real estate market with profits they gained from the stock exchange,” Hoang said.


The property firm Sacomreal’s chairman Dang Hong Anh has a similar predict with his counterpart, saying the property market will likely to boom in 2011.


“The market’s recovery will depend on the government’s economic policies. Some foreign economists said a financial bailout worth $600 billion released by the US’s Federal Reserve is partly flowing into Asian markets, including Vietnam. The US investors still consider Vietnam as an attractive destination,” Anh noticed.


“Many problems including inadequate infrastructure, high inflation and fluctuated foreign exchange rate have effected the real estate market. Property regulations were amended, but some of regulations remain conflicted with each other,” warned Le Chi Hieu, vice chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Property Association.

Source: SGGP

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Hanoi lighting up for Lunar New Year

In Uncategorized on December 24, 2010 at 4:21 am




Hanoi lighting up for Lunar New Year


QĐND – Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 20:28 (GMT+7)

Hanoi is preparing for Tet by transforming the headquarters into a place of lights and decorations.


Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, Nguyen Van Khoi, instructed the Hanoi Lighting and Urban Equipment Company to operate the entire system of regular lighting starting at 6:00 p.m every day beginning December 25.


Between January 6 and February 8, the city will also operate a newly-installed lighting system to serve the 1000th Thang Long-Hanoi anniversary and decorate headquarters and streets to welcome the 11th National Party Congress and the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3).


Flowers will be placed in front of the Central Party headquarters, National Assembly, agencies and the Presidential Palace.


Constructions projects and road work in the area will be halted from December 30 until the end of the Lunar New Year. The city will restrict trucks from entering the inner city during this time, excluding those transporting food and medical products.


Hanoi Power Corporation will be responsible for ensuring stable electricity supply for the party congress and the Tet Holiday.

Source: dtinews


Source: QDND

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World Bank steps up support for Vietnam’s higher education

In Uncategorized on December 17, 2010 at 8:27 am

The World Bank and the State Bank of Vietnam on Thursday signed a financing agreement and related legal documents for the Higher Education Development Policy Credit valued at US$50 million.
 
The credit is provided by the International Development Association, the arm of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries.


The program as a whole is designed to support implementation of the Vietnamese government’s higher education reform agenda. This operation aims to strengthen governance and accountability, rationalize financing, improve quality of teaching and research, and enhance transparency in financial management within the higher education sector. 


Addressing the signing ceremony, Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, said: “Further progress in  access to, and quality of education and training at all levels is critical for achieving Vietnam’s development objectives and in particular its objective to build the skills needed to raise the competitiveness of its economy.”

Source: SGGP

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Upbeat investor sentiment lifts stock market up high

In Uncategorized on December 16, 2010 at 10:06 am

The stock market is roaring back on increasing confidence, helping many investors to achieve big profits.

Two investors caustiously watch share prices updated at a HCMC-based brokerage (Photo:Minh Tri)

VN-Index, the gauge of 271 companies and five mutual funds listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, regained more than 10 percent in the last one month, while the index of the Hanoi’s bourse rose 20 percent.


Brokers said the profit rate of the stock market’s investments was around 6-12 times higher than banks’ interest rate.


Nguyen Thanh Long, an investor favoring mineral shares, achieved a profit rate of 30 percent from investing in Nari Hamico Minerals Joint Stock Company (KSS) last month.


“I bought KSS at VND24,000 per share last month as I found it reasonable. Later I bought more as the share kept falling to around VND20,000, making an average price of VND21,000. I eventually took big profits when KSS rose to VND28,000 early this month,” Long recalled.


Tran Van Thanh, who has entered the market since it was set up, said he gained nearly VND30 million from investing in the air conditioner maker REE (REE).


“I bailed out of the market at the end of July and came back at the time when the VN-Index bounded back from 420-430. I just bought 10,000 REE shares at the price of VND14,000 at that time as I didn’t think the market would recover strongly,” Thanh said.


“I made around VND30 million from selling those shares, which jumped by 20 percent to VND17,000.”


The stock market will likely to remain on a rise until the end of the year, said Hoang Thach Lan, heads of the brokerage unit at the Ho Chi Minh City-based MHB Securities Co., the investment arm of Mekong Housing Bank.


“However, investors should be cautious. One of the biggest mistakes investors often make is to make out a certain reason that they believe it has boosted the market,” Lan said.


“For example, some individual investors told me that they would return to the stock market with long-term investments on an expectation that foreigners would pump money strongly into the market in early 2011.


“But there’s little likelihood that investors would pump as much money into the stock market as they did in the 2006-2007 period.”


Surging trading value
Statistics showed trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange increased sharply by VND17.5 trillion (US$875 million) in the last ten trading day.


According to the State Securities Commission, foreign investors pumped $920 million into Vietnam’s stock market in the first 11 months of the year.


The market’s sentiment was boosted by foreigners’ moves, said Nguyen Viet Hung, head of the analysis and investment unit of the brokerage SME.


“Many investors bailed out from the bearish market, which lasted from the middle of the second quarter to the third quarter this year. Therefore, I expect the current bullish run, which has just been started, will be extended further if those investors returned to the market,” Hung said

Source: SGGP

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Yearend dollar demand piles up pressure on local importers

In Uncategorized on December 16, 2010 at 10:05 am

Surging demand for the US dollars at yearend pushed the dollar/Vietnam dong exchange rate up to the highest ever of VND21,570 on the unofficial market on December 1st, which will hurt local importers badly.

(Photo: Minh Tri)


The surge usually come at the end of every year, when local businesses buy more shipments to prepare for the Lunar New Year season and foreign firms need to transfer dollars to their home. It’s also the due dates of other businesses, who have to pay US dollar debts.


Many commercial lenders are indirectly selling the greenback at higher rates than the State Bank of Vietnam’s regulated one by charging foreign currency transactions fee and cash counting fee and payment fee, many importers said. 


Local importers have to accept to pay those extra fees as they have no other choice, said Vietnam Young Business Association chairman Vo Quoc Thang.


They need to pay their foreign suppliers in time, so they are willing to buy dollars at high prices, he said. With purchase orders’ prices remaining unchanged, these extra fees generate big losses to the importers.


Do Duy Thai, general director of the steel maker Thep Viet, said commercial banks sell the greenback at the exchange rate of VND21,550 per one US dollar. “Both bank interest rate and the US dollar/Vietnam dong exchange rate are on a rise, leaving local businesses struggling to pay their imported shipments,” Thai said.


A director of a Ho Chi Minh City-based lender, who wanted to be unnamed, said banks bought dollars from exporters, who tried to take profits from the dollar’s surging demand by selling at high prices.


Therefore the lenders will incur losses if they sell dollars at the regulated rate, the director said.


The State Bank of Vietnam earlier announced it would continue to sell dollars to essential-product importers, but commercial banks said the supply didn’t meet the demand.


Dr. Tran Du Lich, member of the National Monetary Policy Consulting Council, recommended that the central bank should name the importers, who are allowed to buy dollars, so they don’t have to purchase at the unofficial market.


This move will also prevent local businesses from importing luxury products, which will widen the trade gap. Lich said. The central bank also has to strictly forbid illegal foreign currency exchanges, which are taking place at the so-called black market, he said.


Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of  the State Bank of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City branch, noticed speculators pushed the dollar/Vietnam dong exchange rates on the unofficial market up to cash in the rising demand.


Statistics of the branch shows that the amount of US dollar deposits reached VND188.2 billion (US$9 million), rising 12 percent so far this year. The amount of US dollar loans rose 35.4 percent to VND184.880 billion, according to the central bank’s HCMC branch.

Source: SGGP

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Yearend dollar demand piles up pressure on local importers

In Uncategorized on December 16, 2010 at 10:05 am

Surging demand for the US dollars at yearend pushed the dollar/Vietnam dong exchange rate up to the highest ever of VND21,570 on the unofficial market on December 1st, which will hurt local importers badly.

(Photo: Minh Tri)

The surge usually come at the end of every year, when local businesses buy more shipments to prepare for the Lunar New Year season and foreign firms need to transfer dollars to their home. It’s also the due dates of other businesses, who have to pay US dollar debts.


Many commercial lenders are indirectly selling the greenback at higher rates than the State Bank of Vietnam’s regulated one by charging foreign currency transactions fee and cash counting fee and payment fee, many importers said. 


Local importers have to accept to pay those extra fees as they have no other choice, said Vietnam Young Business Association chairman Vo Quoc Thang.


They need to pay their foreign suppliers in time, so they are willing to buy dollars at high prices, he said. With purchase orders’ prices remaining unchanged, these extra fees generate big losses to the importers.


Do Duy Thai, general director of the steel maker Thep Viet, said commercial banks sell the greenback at the exchange rate of VND21,550 per one US dollar. “Both bank interest rate and the US dollar/Vietnam dong exchange rate are on a rise, leaving local businesses struggling to pay their imported shipments,” Thai said.


A director of a Ho Chi Minh City-based lender, who wanted to be unnamed, said banks bought dollars from exporters, who tried to take profits from the dollar’s surging demand by selling at high prices.


Therefore the lenders will incur losses if they sell dollars at the regulated rate, the director said.


The State Bank of Vietnam earlier announced it would continue to sell dollars to essential-product importers, but commercial banks said the supply didn’t meet the demand.


Dr. Tran Du Lich, member of the National Monetary Policy Consulting Council, recommended that the central bank should name the importers, who are allowed to buy dollars, so they don’t have to purchase at the unofficial market.


This move will also prevent local businesses from importing luxury products, which will widen the trade gap. Lich said. The central bank also has to strictly forbid illegal foreign currency exchanges, which are taking place at the so-called black market, he said.


Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of  the State Bank of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City branch, noticed speculators pushed the dollar/Vietnam dong exchange rates on the unofficial market up to cash in the rising demand.


Statistics of the branch shows that the amount of US dollar deposits reached VND188.2 billion (US$9 million), rising 12 percent so far this year. The amount of US dollar loans rose 35.4 percent to VND184.880 billion, according to the central bank’s HCMC branch.

Source: SGGP