HSBC stoic as stock market plunges

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp (HSBC) most recently announced the periodic report on the salutation and prospect of Vietnam's economy in general and forecast on Viet Nam's finance and stock market in particular, in which the foreign bank still kept optimistic on Viet Nam.
Reviewing regular reports of HSBC about Vietnamese stock market, it is easy to see that the bank's experts always consider Viet Nam to be an attractive market in long-term and proposed an increase in purchase.
In the arguable report on April 7 concerning the investment strategy in Asian market for the second quarter of 2008, HSBC assessed that Viet Nam, along with Japan, Philippines and Australia are better-avoided markets due to macroeconomic instability. The report also caused shocks as forecasting that VN Index could be down to 600 pts by the end of the year instead of the previously predicted 1,100 pts.
However, it is not for this HSBC will change its point of view on Vietnamese market because just in that report, Vietnam was still regarded as the highly potential market in long-term thanks to a reduction in share prices. In addition, HSBC proposed to increase the capital allocation ratio into Viet Nam from 0.5% to 1%.
In the latest report released on May 8, the foreign bank continues keeping optimistic about the future of Vietnamese market in long-term. Besides, it is notable that HSBC believed Viet Nam's VN Index plunged to the bottom already.
At least Vietnamese stock market stopped declining after the government offered market support measures in March, and VN Index seemed to drop to the bottom of 500 pts, cited the May 8 report. But, right after the assessment, the stock market still saw the new bottom level showing that VN Index yesterday May 14 remained at 475.5 pts.
Regarding the stock market situation last month, HSBC's statistics showed that the VN Index within April surged by 1%, much lower than the 8% growth of MSCI of Asia Pacific market excluding Japan and 14% increase of Chinese market's H shares.
About transparency, Viet Nam market's average trading value remained small at only US$21 million each day, not equalling to one third of the figure by the end of 2007.
As usual, foreign investors are active buyers as for Vietnamese shares with the net purchase of US$122 million in April against US$59 million in March.
Given predication on market prospect, like previously publicised reports, HSBC continued saying that many potential risks still exist in Vietnamese stock market in short-term once instabilities in macro-economic policies have not been solved yet.
The current inflation rising by over 21% against the same period of last year along with the increasing trade deficit, government's economic growth target will be factors making domestic investors to be on knife-edge.
In this time, HSBC's experts also concerned a new investment channel in Viet Nam as from the stock market slumped and the real estate market became less brick. That is gold investment.
According to the foreign bank, the key factor affecting to the market in some recent months is whether listed firms' profit have to suffer affects from the current economic situation.
It is supposed that EPS of 2008 and in the following year only could grow 20% while price to earning (P/E) ratio of STC listed firms over next 12 months will be 11.8 times, representing a cheap share price in the market in long-term. These figures were announced in the April 7 report.
Written in the latest report, Dragon Capital forecasted EPS growth could be 3% only this year and 7% in 2009. If the growth rate declines, above assessments on Vietnamese stock market will not be exact any more.
At present, most of 15 largest capitalisation companies excepting securities brokerages all reported a high profit growth during the first quarter of this year, led by HPG with the EPS growth of 451%, followed by energy sector shares especially DPM with EPS growth of 77% and VSH 72%. The biggest loser was SSI with the EPS of—75%, according to HSBC's May 8 report.
Once again HSBC advised foreign investors to gather Vietnamese shares for long-term reserve. Notably, listed firms namely Vinpearl and Vinamilk with good quality are that focus on their key sectors and do not expand to other fields such as banking or gold business, which are emerging to become attractive shares.
Especially, in the latest report, HSBC did not give any forecast on VN Index. Perhaps, the bank's experts still maintained the 600 pts forecast level. (TBKTVN)

SAFI transport firm targets 24b dong profit

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Sea and Air Freight International Co, or SAFI recently announced this year's business plan with 103 billion dong in revenue, 24 billion dong from after tax profit and dividend of 12%.
This year, the company continues carrying out project of expanding its warehouse in HCM City's Dist 7, the project to build storehouse and branch office in Da Nang and the office building project in HCM City's Dist 1.
In addition, this year the company also invest capital to set up joint ventures with some foreign partners and set up Dung Quat Port Development Joint Stock Co and establish a warehouse area building company in Hanoi's environs with the total investment capital of 47.7 billion dong.

Dien Quang lamp maker targets 222b dong profit in 2008

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Co yesterday May 14 announced this year's business plan with 1.27 trillion dong in revenue and 222 billion dong in profit.
Last year, the company reached 1.12 trillion dong in revenue and 203.25 billion dong from after tax profit.

Habeco releases 2007 fiscal report

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Hanoi Beer – Alcohol – Beverage Joint Stock Corporation (Habeco) recently released its 2007 fiscal report with the total asset of 385.690 billion dong, total revenue from sales and service provision of 540.952 billion dong, and net revenue from sales and service provision at 412.229 billion dong.
Last year, the company also gained 181.764 billion dong in combined profit from sales and service provision, 3.247 billion dong in revenue from financial activities, 117.940 billion dong in net business profit, 47.321 million dong from other profits, 117.987 billion dong in total pre-tax profit and EPS of 24,327 dong.
On the other hand, it spent over 7.554 billion dong on financial costs, 26.382 billion dong on sale cost, more than 33.135 billion dong on corporate administration cost, and 1.206 billion dong on other costs. (TBKTVN)

HMC reports 15.92b dong profit in Q1

Saturday, May 17, 2008
The HCM City Metal Joint Stock Co (coded HMC) recently reported the business result in the first quarter of this year with over 1.115 trillion dong in net revenue from sales and service provision, up 130.59% against the same period of 2007 and 15.92 billion dong from after tax profit, rising 86.85% yoy.

This year, the company plans to gain 3.8 trillion dong in revenue, 60 billion dong from pre tax profit and dividend of 16-18% and carry out its construction projects.

Closing the trading session on May 15, HMC-coded shares closed at 20,100 dong per share, losing 400 dong or 1.95% with 8,050 shares being traded.

PPC targets 693.5b dong profit

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Pha Lai Thermo Power Joint Stock Co (coded PPC) recently released the 2007 annual report with 777.822 billion dong from pre tax profit and total investment capital of 1.104 trillion dong in many projects.
Up to the end of 2007, PPC paid dividend of 10% for the first phase of 2007 and paid at 5% for the second phase on March 7.
This year, the company targets over 3.638 trillion dong in total revenue and over 693.518 billion dong from pre tax profit.

Providential Holdings reports Q3 FY '08 financial results

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Providential Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:PRVH), a company engaged in merger and acquisitions consultancy, financial services, independent energy and resources, real estate development and investing in unique opportunities, announced financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2008 ended March 31, 2008.

Revenue for the third quarter was US$31,000, a decrease from the US$2.5 million reported in the same quarter last year. Net loss for the quarter was US$276,772 or US$0.00 per diluted share, compared to net income of US$2,373,712 or US$0.01 per diluted share in the comparable quarter last year.

For the nine months ended March 31, 2008, Providential reported revenues of US$705,338 and a net loss of US$386,230. This compares to revenues of US$2.7 million and net income of US$1.9 million in the comparable period last year.

Providential Chair and CEO Henry Fahman said, "The revenues for the third quarter and nine-month periods were low due to the nature of our revenue recognition methods. Traditionally, we are compensated with equity from our client companies, and since transactions have a long sales cycle and take a long time to complete, our quarterly revenue stream is uneven. Revenues are recognised in the financial quarter in which the transactions are completed. On another note, our recent projects, such as the PHILAND Pointe91 development, the formation of IndoChina Mining Corporation, the launching of Providential Vietnam Growth Fund, and our management services subsidiaries were both human and capital intensive, but their progress continues to be very steady. We are confident in their ability and moreover, Providential Holdings as an entity, to generate positive results."

About Providential Holdings, Inc.

Providential Holdings and its subsidiaries engage in a number of diverse business activities, the most important of which are M&A advisory services and investing in the rapidly growing economies of Vietnam and Asia. As part of its activities in Vietnam, Providential has been hosting seminars in conjunction with the Nasdaq Stock Market, the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a leading US investment banking firm, to help Vietnamese companies go public and raise capital through the US financial markets. For more information on Providential Holdings,

Vimedimex pharmaceutical firm releases background

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Developed from Viet Nam National Medical Products Import Export Co II (Vimedimex II), which was established in 1984, HCM City-headquartered Vimedimex made its equtisation in December 2005 with a chartered capital of 25 billion dong. So far, Vimedimex has launched five branches in Hanoi, Can Tho, Tay Ninh, Binh Duong and Da Lat.

The company that specialises in pharmaceutical materials production, export, import and distribution and real estate sector reached 2.982 trillion dong in revenue, up 18% on 2006, 18.6 billion dong from after tax profit, rising 173% against 2006 and dividend of 16% last year.

This year, the company plans to bring the figures to 2.751 trillion dong in net revenue, 24.4 billion dong in profit and 20% dividend. At the same time, Vimedimex expected to hike its chartered capital to 81.41 billion dong.

Vimedimex is carrying out four realty projects capitalised at over 620 billion dong including office buildings and medicine supermarket.

The company plans to set up medicine and pharmacy service production business development and finance investment company with a chartered capital of 200 billion dong, of which Vimedimex invests 20%.

This upcoming company together with Vimedimex will jointly carry out four investment projects above in 2008-2010 and other projects in medicine and pharmacy sectors.

HSBC awards VIB

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB Bank) on May 9 received the award of Prominent International Payment Bank from HSBC.

HSBC's award is built based on defining quality of international payment orders and yearly payment turnover of banks through the foreign bank. Head of Corporate Banking at HSBC reported, over 95% of VIB's payment orders are matched with Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)'s structure.

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Publish Postal bank was granted the similar prize by Citigroup.

Foreign banks take stronger footing in Viet Nam

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Business operation of foreign banks in Viet Nam now is under many regulations that although have been freed up to a certain extent in line with Vietnam's WTO commitments. Due to this, these banks only account for a small market share in Viet Nam's banking sector. However, once more time, a lot of banking specialists gave warnings over domestic banks that they [banks] should improve their financial strength, administration and technology to prepare for the forthcoming fierce competition.

After over on year from entering WTO, the financial dept of Viet Nam's banking system has been improved considerably. In 2006, the ratio of total deposits on GDP was 78.4%, rising 12% year-on-year. The figure was increased to 95.4% last year. In addition, total chartered capital of banks in 2007 soared by 54% against the previous year.

Regarding business operation, the unpaid debt ratio declined from 5% in 2005 down to 3.5% in 2006 and below 3% in 2007. Most commercial banks reached the capital adequacy ratio of 8%.

At present, with the nationwide network, local commercial banks still account for over 90% market share but like a previous survey, up to 45% of customers will shift to borrow loans from foreign banks, 50% will choose services of foreign banks and 50% will send money at foreign banks.

Up to now, foreign banks' branches in Viet Nam only make up 13% market share of capital mobilisation and about 9% of lending market. According to a SBV's report released last week, total asset of foreign banks' branches by the end of 2008 reached 215 trillion dong and their total pre-tax profit gained 2.4 trillion dong with the growth of lending and deposit market share of 0.4% against 2006. The report also predicted that the above figures will continue rising over next years when Vietnam is step by step opening the door of banking market under WTO commitments. Accordingly, within five years from becoming the official member of WTO, Vietnam can restrict the right of receiving dong deposits of a foreign bank branch. From January 1, 2008, the deposit limit that a foreign bank branch is allowed to receive is 800% of its authorised capital. However, the ratio will be extended to 900% in 2009, 1,000% in 2010 and abolished from 2011.

One financer said that many foreign banks' branches now apply a lower lending rate than domestic lenders to expand market share.

Factually, because State Bank of Viet Nam ruled that foreign bank branches are not allowed to receive dong deposits from entities that are not that bank's borrowers, so the banks' market share expansion by boosting lending is normal.

According to specialists, branches of foreign banks are playing a very important role in Viet Nam's foreign currency market. Most of foreign indirect capital (FII) flow into Viet Nam is through the branches. Moreover, these branches can raise US dollar in foreign countries with a lower interest rate than in Viet Nam. After that they re-lend to Vietnamese banks.

Foreign banks have another advantage of non-credit services, which is also the disadvantage of local banks. Particularly, HSBC's revenue of international payment accounts for one third of its total figure. (DTCK)

VietA Bank signs contract on credit ranking with Ernst & Young

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Viet A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VietA Bank) recently signed a contract to build an internal credit ranking system with Ernst & Young.

This system will include three parts namely credit ranking system with corporative customers, system with individual customers and another with financial institutions.

With this system, VietA Bank can evaluate the trust of customers in its credit business, aims to improve the effect as well as ensures the credit security in each period and manages credit portfolio and risk prevention for the whole network.

In addition, thanks to this system, the bank can exactly define the bad debt rate at each time and support in managing credit portfolio as well as evaluate customers.

PNJ, EAB cooperate in gold production

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Phu Nhuan Jewellery Joint Stock Co (PNJ) and Eastern Asia Commercial Join Stock Bank (DongA Bank - EAB) recently officially introduced the piece gold branded Phuong Hoang PNJ-EAB.
Along with the cooperation in gold production, the two partners will build a nationwide contribution and consolidation network to ensure the gold market's transparency.

VIBBank targets 700b dong profit

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIBBank) recently announced that it would organise its shareholders' meeting on May 21 to pass this year's business plan with 700 billion dong from pre tax profit, 52.5 trillion dong in total asset, between 21.76 billion dong and 23.4 billion dong in outstanding loans, ROE at 20% and dividend of 15%.

Last year, VIBBank set a plan of 2.5 trillion dong in chartered capital, but at the end of 2007, the bank's chartered capital reached two trillion dong due to the bank has not found its foreign strategic partner yet.

In 2007, VIBBank's shareholders' meeting also granted authority to the director board to list shares. However, the bank's director board announced that the best time to list shares is after selling shares to foreign strategic partner.

Dong Tam Co to hike chartered capital

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Dong Tam Joint Stock Co (DTC)'s shareholders' meeting recently passed the plan to scale up its chartered capital to 679 billion dong from the current of 523.9 billion dong via offering 15,505,250 additional shares to existing shareholders and strategic partners.

This year, the company together with its subsidiaries plan to jointly carry out 12 projects with the total investment capital of 1.211 trillion dong.

This year, DTC targets 1.5 trillion dong in revenue, 250 billion dong from after tax profit and dividend of 25-30% while that figures were 508.79 billion dong, 102.58 billion dong and 17% divided in 2007 respectively.

Seminar on IPO and listing in Singapore

Saturday, May 17, 2008
A seminar titled "IPO and listing on Singapore Stock Exchange" will be held in Hanoi on May 19 and in HCM City on May 21 under the combination of Viet Nam's State Securities Commission (SSC) and ICH Singapore financial group within the framework of Vietnam-Singapore market connection programme to help Vietnamese enterprises access listing standards of Singaporean stock market.
The seminar is the opportunity for Vietnamese firms to seek IPO process on the foreign market.

CLC to pay dividend of 30% in shares

Saturday, May 17, 2008
The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) recently announced that the registration deadline for Cat Loi Joint Stock Co (coded CLC) to close the list of shareholders book to is on May 30 and the ex-interest date on May 28 to pay dividend of 30% in shares for 2007 with the total volume of 3,023,985 shares.

The transaction date is expected on June 25.

Reportedly, in 2007 CLC made a revenue of 813.948 billion dong and 45.597 billion dong from after tax profit.

Ending the trading session on May 15, CLC-coded shares fell 600 dong to 30,900 dong per share with 7,330 shares being traded.

Commercial Construction and Installation No 2 to sell remaining shares

Saturday, May 17, 2008
The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) on May 14 announced it would sell 71,516 remaining shares of Commercial Construction and Installation No 2 Joint Stock Co to investors who joined the company's previous share auction held on February 20, 2008.
The registration time is between May 19 and 20 at HOSE.
The payment time is from May 21 to 22, 2008.h

OPC pharmaceutical firm to go public

Saturday, May 17, 2008
OPC Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Co (OPC) is now in a hurry to finish the last proceedings to list shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE), said Truong Duc Vong, OPC's managing director.

This year, the company targets 210 billion dong in total revenue, 38 billion dong from after tax profit and dividend of 18%.

OPC also plans to put into operation its branches and the second pharmaceutical chemistry workshop with WHO's GMP standard within this year.

Last year, the company gained 180.14 billion dong in revenue, 33.88 billion dong from after tax profit and dividend of 18%.

IPO policies should be reconsidered: expert

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Cao Sy Kiem, former Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, now a member of the National Advisory Council for Financial and Monetary Policies, said that in the context of the market’s falls, it is necessary to reconsider IPO policies, weighing the possible success, IPO techniques, stake sale prices and attractiveness.
Kiem said that the top priority now is to fight inflation, and when fighting inflation, this will influence the stock market. However, this does not mean that Vietnam will have to sacrifice the stock market to fight inflation.
He also said that the stock market will not be able to recover until the national economy stabilises and price increases are restrained.
Do you think that it is necessary to delay the IPOs of big enterprises?
I think that we should not speed up IPOs or delay all IPOs. I think that capable enterprises still should implement IPO plans as scheduled. However, if we make a massive number of IPOs, this will cause ‘share dilution’, or a supply and demand imbalance.
The thing we need to do is to regulate IPOs in a flexible and harmonious way. We should thoroughly consider which enterprise to make IPO and when.
In some cases, the IPOs of some big enterprises will help stimulate demand.
After the bad results of the recent IPOs, some experts say that it is necessary to amend the procedures on equitisation, including the regulations on selling stakes to foreign strategic investors. What is your viewpoint about this?
I think that it is the right time to change the method of selling stakes to foreign strategic investors. The current method, under which foreign strategic partners have to buy stakes at the IPO average price, has not been accepted by many institutional investors. Foreign strategic investors, unlike other investors, keep shares for a long time. Meanwhile, they have good technologies and markets, and they will be able to help enterprises change corporate governance skills. I think that the final decision of selling stakes to foreign strategic partners is to improve businesses’ operations after the equitisation.
Do you think that big corporations’ IPOs will be attractive to foreign investors at this moment, when Vietnam prioritises the fight against inflation?
Foreign investors always are methodical investors and they only make investment decisions after they analyse the market. They have longer term vision, and even now, when the market is falling down, they still purchase shares. They are unlike domestic investors, most of whom are speculators and short-term investors. (DTCK)

Vietcombank Shares: Which Scenario?

Saturday, May 17, 2008
On April 26, Vietcombank (VCB) organised its first general shareholder meeting. Attending shareholders showed their dissatisfaction, especially those bearing in mind that their trust was betrayed, as their rights and interests were not protected by any governing agency. So, what is the scenario for Vietcombank share price when it is listed on the stock market?
Undeniably, VCB shares will have a certain impact on the Vietnamese stock market. VCB shares are still the blue-chip on the market.
Investors were very keen on the initial public offering of Vietcombank although they seemed unsatisfied with the starting price of VND100,000 per share, the highest of starting IPO price of equitised state-owned enterprises. With strong trust on the long-standing VCB trademark, all offering volume was bought at the average winning price of VND107,572 per share. Following the IPO, VCB shares continually dropped. The price of VCB shares on the over-the-counter market was less than VND50,000 per share, which is the driver to pull down other financial equities.

Which price for strategic investors?

According to the privatization plan and business plans in 2008, VCB will pick up strategic partners and list its shares on the stock market. One of the biggest concerns now is the price VCB offers strategic investors. This move is considered to affect not only the VCB share price but also the whole Vietnamese stock market. So, which scenario is the best for VCB share price? Following are several proposals.

First scenario: Picking up strategic partners according to Decree 109

Under Government Decree 109/2007/ND/CP on transformation of wholly state-owned enterprises to a joint stock company dated June 26, 2007, VCB will sell its stake to strategic investors at a price not lower than the average winning price of VND107,572 per share. This price is fair for all investors but strategic investors will not accept this. Simply, strategic investors are institutions and they only operate on the primary market; thus, they will not accept a price applied to small investors on the secondary market. Before the IPO, strategic partners suggested to buy shares at VND40,000-60,000 per share. The price rate was put up when the VN-Index was above 900 points. Thus, they may lower the recommended buying price because the VN-Index has dropped to around 500 points. The selection of new strategic partners will take a long time and the negotiation process will have to start again. Moreover, at present, bank and financial shares are devaluating. Hardly anyone accepts to buy VCB shares at the average winning price plus.

Second scenario: if selling price is lower than IPO average winning price

In case, VCB cannot select strategic foreign partners, it will have to consider lowering selling price.

However, in addition to the violation of Decree 109, this will hurt investors joining the IPO. Investors will lose trust on the privatization process of the government. Thus, the consequences are immeasurable.

Starting price: which rate?

Not only encountering difficulty in selecting offering price for strategic investors, VCB also faces difficulty in determining the starting listing price.

After closing at VND107,572 per share at the IPO, VCB share price nosedived to around VND50,000 on the over-the-counter market. The price of VCB shares dropped by half. So, which rate is suitable for the starting listing price of VCB shares?

First scenario: Equal to average winning price

VCB shares will be listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) at the starting price equal to the average winning price of VND107,000. Certainly, it is forecast to be quickly return to VND50,000-60,000 per share, even lower.

If the VCB shares are listed at the first price of VND107,000 per share, with a chartered capital of VND15,000, the market capitalisation of VCB is VND160,500 billion (US$10 billion). At present, the total market capitalisation on HOSE is around VND230,000 billion. Then, the market cap of VCB will equal to 69.78 per cent of the total market cap on HOSE. What will happen to the Vietnamese stock market if VCB shares continuously drop? VN-Index will fall and investors’ sentiment will be affected.

Second scenario: Around OTC price

If VCB lists shares with the starting price around the OTC price, it will indirectly admit its wrongness in corporate valuation and setting bidding price. This will have negative impacts on upcoming IPOs of other state-owned enterprises.

Clearly, VCB is encountering a big challenge. The lender’s move will certainly impact the stock market in general and VCB in particular. (Viet Nam Business Forum)

"Room" Solution: Not the Best!

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Investors expect the Ministry of Finance will introduce measures to stabilise the falling market and curb rising inflation in May. However, investors still expressed doubts about this remedy, especially the widening of room.

In the Ministry of Finance’s Decision No. 745 on action programme to stabilise the market and curb inflation, the Corporate Finance Department and the State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SSC) were assigned to amend and supplement Decision 238/2005/QD-TTg on the ownership ratio of foreign investors in the Vietnamese stock market and make reports on this matter in May. Thus, the regulations on the ownership ratio of foreign investors (room) at no more than 49 per cent in listed in companies and at no more than 30% in listed financial and banking companies will be changed.

What is the new ratio?

In early 2007, a large amount of foreign currencies flowed into Vietnam and this led to complex macro policies regarding economic growth, foreign exchange, tax and inflation. If the room is widened, foreign capital flows will increase their pressure on Vietnam.

According to many experts, the room widening needs reviewing. The 49% ratio seems too generous to foreign investors in a fledging market like Viet Nam. Except for Singapore, the ratio in Vietnam is no less than any other ASEAN countries, which had stock exchanges for decades. In China, the room for foreign investors is only 10 per cent but this market is still strongly developed with 130 million trading accounts in total, equalling 10 per cent of the population.

Experts said, to develop a stable market, Viet Nam needs to enhance the knowledge and maturity of domestic investors as they are the internal force which determines the health of the market.

Let enterprises decide room

According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE), as of April 26, 2008, only 13 stocks had no more room for foreign investors (49% in non-financial firms and 30% in STB).

Thus, the room for foreign investors is still large in other firms. The widening of the room is not an urgent solution. Mr Nguyen Bang Tam, vice dean of the Vietnam Association of Listed Businesses, said the room widening is not important because the market has fallen to a very low level and seemed stagnant. However, this is a supporting measure. More importantly, the room adjustment needs flexible. The State should only set the foreign ownership ratio in special firms and let other firms to choose the ratio for foreign investors. For example, some enterprises need the presence of foreigners in the board of directors while others do not. An across-the-board opening is okay but may cause problems when the state wants to narrow the room when the market has problems.

According t Mr Nguyen Thanh Ky, General Secretary of Viet Nam Association of Securities Businesses (VASB), his association’s members have not reached consensus in room widening ratio because the share price reflects the value of listed companies and prospect of foreign investors in these companies in the future. If the price falls and the room needs opening, the share price will be like an addict that always needs remedy to grow up. (Vietnam Business Forum)

Alta executive to buy 0.5 per cent stake

Saturday, May 17, 2008
The director of the Alta Joint Stock Company board, Hans Eberhard Fortenbacher, will purchase an extra 20,000 shares in the firm, equivalent to a 0.5% stake, the packaging and paper maker announced on the exchange’s Web site.
Fortenbacher’s share buying will start on May 20 and finish on July 20, the Web site said.

Investment fund acquires more stakes in Hang Xanh Motors

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Car retailer Hang Xanh Motors Service Joint-Stock Company (Haxaco) announced on the exchange’s Web site Thursday major shareholder An Phuc Investment Fund bought 47,670 shares to increase its stake to 11.28% from 10.18%.

Finance Ministry asked to lower trading fee

Friday, May 16, 2008
The State Securities Commission (SSC) has called for the Finance Ministry to reduce the trading fee for securities firms from .05 percent to .02%, according to the head of the commission’s market development department.

The move will help securities firms overcome difficulties resulting from the strong decrease of stock indexes and the market’s liquidity, the department head Nguyen Son said.

SSC also planned to make a request for reducing trading fees for investors, he added.

A gloomy atmosphere still dominated the Vietnam stock market as the VN-Index at the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange closed the May 16 trading session at 460.04 points, a decline of 6.63 points, or 1.42% over the previous session.

Only 14 shares rallied for gain, while 11 remained unchanged and 129 suffered losses.

Meanwhile, the HaSTC-Index at the Hanoi Securities Trading Centre fell 2.35 points, or 1.65%, to finish at 139.74 points. (VNA)

Fiachra Mac Cana, an analyst at HCM City Securities Company, said that credit has stopped growing. The State Bank of Vietnam has obtained its goal by

Friday, May 16, 2008
Fiachra Mac Cana, an analyst at HCM City Securities Company, said that credit has stopped growing. The State Bank of Vietnam has obtained its goal by hindering commercial banks from accessing capital sources, setting the ceiling deposit interest rate and withdrawing cash from the interbank market (by selling US dollars).

Capital getting stuck in domino effect

PetroVietnam, the biggest shareholder of Phu My Fertiliser Company, has proposed the government raise the export tax on fertiliser from 0% to 40% in May 2008 in order to prevent enterprises from selling fertiliser abroad as domestic farmers need fertiliser for rice fields.

Domestic fertiliser producers, like Binh Dien, now do not allow its sales agents to make deferred payment for products, while the agents do not allow farmers to make deferred payments.

As for steel, one big group has re-exported the ingot steel it imported at low prices late last year at $880/tonne, while the ingot steel price has soared to over $900/tonne.

As banks are tightening credit, businesses dare not stock up on materials. As businesses are lacking working capital, they have to sell materials they purchased before in order to get money.

“There are problems with the movement mechanism of the national economy, especially in goods circulation. We have lent VND800bil to rice exporters to help them collect paddies from farmers, but they still have not exported products, which means the capital turnover has gotten stuck,” said Tran Phuong Binh, General Director of East Asia Bank.

The capital turnover is getting stuck also because of non-performing loans. Borrowers do not pay bank debts. They pay fines for late debt payments for fear that they will not be able to continue borrowing money after they pay debts.

Nguyen Duc Kien, the founding member of ACB bank, said that clients are queuing to borrow money, but the bank cannot lend to them as the credit growth rate must be kept at 30%.

A steel mill said that it had to re-export steel for cheaper than the world’s price because it couldn’t sell to domestic buyers. Why? Because banks refuse to give loans to help buyers buy steel.

Worrying signs

While capital turnover problems exist, the State Bank of Vietnam on April 29 amended the regulations on valuable paper discount and re-discount limits. Under the new regulations, the discount limits will be defined quarterly. Commercial banks will have to report to the central bank about the discount limit prior to the first 15th of every quarter.

The enactment of new regulations means that the central bank will more strictly control the pumping of money into circulation through the discount loan channel. This also shows that the central bank still does not know how much money to put into circulation in order to ensure liquidity and fight inflation at the same time.

The situation in the interbank market has not improved. Overnight interest rates have decreased, but inconsiderably.

Meanwhile, government bonds are depreciating as foreign investors are selling bonds at VND93,100/share, while the face value is VND100,000.

Most recently, the interest rates of corporate bonds reached the peak of 16% per annum (16% for the first year, while the interest rates of the next years will be calculated from the average interest rates of four state owned banks plus 4%).

As such, though credit has stopped growing, interest rates will still not decrease, at least in May. (TBKTVN)

Viet Nam fails again to sell any govt bonds

Friday, May 16, 2008
Viet Nam's State Treasury has failed for the sixth time in a row to sell any government bonds at an auction on Friday when it sought to raise 500 billion dong ($31 million), the Hanoi Securities Trading Center (HASTC) said.

Bidders sought yields of between 10.5% and 15% for the May 20, 2013 bonds but none of them won to buy any debt, the exchange said in a statement but gave no reasons.

At the previous auction on April 25, the State Treasury also could not sell any of its debt issue worth 1 trillion dong, the fifth failure in a row since March 7, the Hanoi stock market said.

The last time the State Treasury was successful in the bond sales was on February 28 when it raised 700 billion dong worth of two-year debt with an annual yield of 7.68%.

Banks, the frequent buyers of government debts, have been struggling to raise dong funds after the central bank tightened monetary conditions to fight Viet Nam's double-digit inflation. ($1=16,013 dong) (Reuters)

May 16, Foreigners Net Buyers Of VND25.6 Billion Of Shares

Friday, May 16, 2008
Foreign investors were net buyers of VND25.6 billion ($1.6 million) of Vietnamese stocks Friday, out of a total of VND325 billion traded, the Ho Chi Minh Securities Trading Center said.
Volume was 8.1 million shares, with foreigners accounting for 18.7% of the total, according to the stock market operator. (Dow Jones)

Power company’s Q1 profits rise nearly 57%

Friday, May 16, 2008
Vinh Son Song Hinh Hydropower Joint Stock Company (VSH), earned revenue of VND144.9 billion in the first quarter, 56.55 per cent higher than the same period last year. The company made more than VND102 billion profit, an increase of 71.78%.

VSH produces power, manages and maintains hydropower plants, does consulting, and trades in electric materials and equipment.

Savimex profits fall 11.44% in Q1

Friday, May 16, 2008
Savimex Joint Stock Corp (SAV), earned VND85.5 billion in the first quarter of 2008, a small decline on the same period last year. Post-tax profit reached VND2.23 billion, a decline of 11.44 per cent.
This year, the company plans to earn VND304 billion in exports, VND154 billion in domestic revenue and VND12 billion from financial and other activities. Post tax profit is expected to be VND20.16 billion.

Nam Viet Seafood exporter nets less

Friday, May 16, 2008
Nam Viet Joint Stock Company (ANV), earned revenue of more than VND700 billion (US$43.75 million) from goods and services in the first quarter of the year, 14.42 per cent lower than for the same period last year. Post-tax profit amounted to VND72.5 billion, a decline of 41 per cent.
Nam Viet’s main business includes processing and exporting of tra and basa catfish and other seafood products to Russia, the European Union, China, Australia and 40 other countries.

First private financial group makes debut

Friday, May 16, 2008
The Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) officially made debut as the Sacombank Group on May 16, becoming the first private financial group in Vietnam.

The Sacombank Group with 11 subsidiaries operates on a charter capital of 5.2 trillion VND and total assets of 79.9 trillion VND. It has a total staff of more than 6,500.

During the launch ceremony, the group signed memoranda of understandings with the Industrial Bank of Taiwan and Dragon Capital to jointly carry out financial projects and set up securities trading and brokerage channels.

Businesses’ financial investments: time for the yellow light

Friday, May 16, 2008
Several days ago, newspapers reported about the losses suffered by La Nga Sugar Company from its investment of VND17.7bil in stocks. Today, people hear the news that Hanoi Seafood Import-Export Joint Stock Company has injected billions VND in OTC stocks.

Sources say that the company spent VND16,360bil to buy VP Bank shares. It remains unclear about the profit and loss of the investment deal. However, experts have advised businesses to be cautious about decisions on financial investments, which are considered very risky, especially in the context of the market’s falls.

The Ministry of Construction has become the first ministry to prohibit its companies from making investments in stocks. The ministry has asked its companies to check their capital contributions to other entities and not to make financial investments at this moment.

A lot of companies have jumped into financial investments since they heard about the high profitability of securities investments in early 2007.

However, the problem lies in the fact that the investments are very risky, and while the companies are focusing on financial investments, they do not pay appropriate attention to their main business fields.

Tran Tuan Duong, General Director of Hoa Phat Group, said that the proportion of financial investments should be kept at suitable levels, which do not badly affect companies’ primary business.

“Hoa Phat’s main business is industrial production, and it never deviates from this direction,” Duong said.

Nguyen Hoang Hai, Secretary General of the Vietnam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI), said that VAFI has suggested strengthening the administration of public companies. According to VAFI, production companies should minimise investments in stocks as they need to focus on their principal fields of business.

VAFI said that if businesses have idle capital, they can put the capital into investment funds, a more professional way to save capital and make profit.

Meanwhile, commenting about the financial investments made by businesses recently, Huy Nam, a finance expert, said that no one has the right to prohibit businesses from using capital in the way they want; however, ‘the players need to be professional’.

“Financial investments should not be encouraged as these investments require professional knowledge,” Nam said. (Lao dong)

Resonance of inflation and speculation must be avoided

Friday, May 16, 2008
High inflation, ballooning trade deficits, and the Government's economic management are among big issues highlighted at the ongoing National Assembly sitting in Hanoi. Le Quoc Dung, vice chair of the NA Economic Committee, talks with The Saigon Times Daily on the sidelines of the sitting on such issues. Excerpts follow.

Many people have voiced concerns that prices of certain essential commodities will leap up after June as the period of price control initiated by the Government is out. How do you comment on such a possibility?

As far as I know, prices of certain commodities will be revised after June, possibly petrol prices. The local economy is still facing big challenges. Although the inflation has shown signs of a slow-down, prices of some key commodities on the world market remain high, especially crude oil.

There are several problems in the local economy to address such as market pricing, export and competitiveness. If local prices are well linked to the global prices, then such prices should have been revised up.

However, if prices go up further, the inflation will move upwards, thus having adverse impacts on the people's livelihood. I am now keeping a close watch on the banking system.

The lending interest rate has been high while credits are tightened, leading to high capital cost for enterprises, especially exporters. In the region, the lending rate is much lower than in Vietnam, so local competitiveness is a difficult problem.

Some experts have warned against speculation, saying many enterprises have stocked commodities to wait for higher prices after June. How the NA Economic Committee will monitor and address this phenomenon?

That situation may be real. There may be the activity of speculative stocking as people foresee the high inflation and keep back goods for sales when prices move up. The National Assembly will only monitor the Government's administration, while the Government itself will have to tighten control over State-owned corporations, groups and enterprises, especially those producing essential goods so that the supply of goods remains steady. The Economic Committee will dispatch inspection teams to work alongside the Government. If speculative trading is combined with the inflation, the resonance will be dangerous.

The trade deficit in the first four months of the year has exceeded US$11bil, equivalent to 60.7% of the total export revenue. In your opinion, what should the Government do to reduce the trade gap, and whether boosting export is the optimum measure?

It is clear that the trade deficit is widening. But if enterprises boost imports to hedge against the rising price on the world market, we should have a more objective, considerate view. The increasing trade deficit will prompt more difficulties for the trade balance and payment balance.

Nevertheless, the State should ensure sufficient foreign currency supply. The dollar is in short supply now due to rising import, but the State should use part of the foreign reserve to guarantee liquidity for enterprises. However, such a move must be done in a cautious manner. Another measure is to tighten control on luxury goods and consumer goods.

The proportion of consumer goods and luxury goods including automobiles makes up a mere 1% in the total import expenditure, while up to 92% of imports are machinery and materials for local production. Is it possible to control the rising import with such a measure of curbing consumer goods and luxury goods?

The most important job now is to restructure local production, especially to develop the supporting industry. This should have been done a long time ago. For farm produce, we have mainly shipped raw materials rather than value-added products. We should have had a strategy to add value to such products. Most of rubber and coffee are now exported as raw materials.

Many are of the opinion that the State intervention by means of administrative measures should be short-lived, and the basic thing is to let prices driven by market forces?

That's correct. Deep intervention by the State will distort the market. But such measures are necessary under certain circumstances. If such measures are maintained for long, the market will go wrong, leading to a bubble economy.

So what should be the right time to stop such intervention?

I understand that the Government also want to stop such measures as soon as possible, but due to the limited resources and capacity, caution will be taken in choosing a point of time to stop such intervention. The NA Economic Committee will raise its voice to ask for stopping intervention as soon as the situation is back to normal. Prices should be in line with the market principle. (SGT)

Interest rate proves to be the bottom line

Friday, May 16, 2008
The interest rate proves to be the most important consideration for depositors when they are thinking about where to make deposits, a quick survey, conducted by Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam, has found.

Depositors have become more realistic nowadays, the survey concluded. Most depositors said they will make deposits at banks that offer the highest interest rates.

This is really a noteworthy conclusion, because depositors would have said they chose to deposit at state owned banks if the same question had been raised several years ago.

The survey was conducted within one month, attracting 6,000 readers.

Interest rate No 1

45.41% of 6,160 readers said that the interest rate is the most important factor in their decisions about where to deposit money.

Local newspapers reported a case in which a resident in a district in the central province of Ha Tinh, where there are only state owned banks offering low interest rates, decided to remit the money he had to a relative in Hanoi, so that the relative could deposit it at a joint stock bank to enjoy higher interest rates.

This being the case, the raising of interest rates is the No 1 weapon of banks in the competition with colleagues to mobilise capital. In late February 2008, a joint stock bank reported that it could mobilise VND120bil worth of capital a day when it raised deposit interest rates, three times more than on ordinary days.

Prestige important factor

32.6% of readers said that the prestige of banks was the most important factor. The high percentage shows that many people are still very cautious about their assets, though banks’ operations are supervised and protected by state management agencies.

Prestige proves to be a real asset of banks. State owned banks are considered prestigious as they have had a long period of operation. Moreover, people believe that the state will rescue the state owned banks if they have problems.

An example has been cited to explain why prestige remains the second most important factor for depositors.

In the latest interest rate race in February, Military Bank did not offer sharp and continuous interest rate increases like other banks, but it still attained its targeted volume of mobilised capital.

The bank interviewed its clients on why they still made deposits at the bank though the bank did not offer interest rates that were as attractive as other banks. Most of the clients answered that the fact that Military Bank did not raise interest rates bolstered their confidence. They thought that the bank was operating well and thus did not need to raise its interest rates. Meanwhile, they thought that other banks tried to raise interest rates because they seriously lacked capital, or had problems in operation.

Doubts raised about promotion programmes

It is quite a surprise that promotion programmes do not have much of an impact on depositors’ decisions. Only 1.54% of depositors said that they would deposit at banks to enjoy the preferences of promotion programmes.

The result, once again, shows that depositors have become more realistic.

Additionally, the low attractiveness of promotion programmes can be explained by the fact that too many programmes have been launched recently. Preliminary statistics show that at least 20 such programmes are currently running. (TBKTVN)

Singapore’s OCBC Bank to raise VPBank stake

Friday, May 16, 2008
VPBank is working to help Singapore-based OCBC complete procedures to raise OCBC's holdings in VPBank to 15%, the maximum stake allowed by law in a commercial bank by a single foreign strategic investor.

Any interest held by a single foreign investor requires State Bank of Viet Nam approval.

VPBank general director Nguyen Dac Son said on Wednesday that OCBC would pay 4-5 times more than the face value of VPBank's shares to obtain the additional interest.

"The price that OCBC will pay for an additional 5-per-cent stake in VPBank is likely similar to the amount the Singapore bank paid for the earlier 10-per-cent stake, even now during increased difficulties in the credit situation," commented a Kim Long Securities Co analyst who asked to remain anonymous.

OCBC bought a 10-per-cent stake in VPBank in April 2006 at a cost of VND250bil (US$15.6mil), becoming VPBank's sole strategic partner.

During negotiations to increase the stake to 15%, OCBC invested an additional $7mil for training courses for VPBank's staff, per its commitments as a strategic partner.

A larger OCBC stake, planned since last year, would help VPBank strengthen its relationship with OCBC and help promote VPBank's growth in such areas as risk management, governance and technology, Son said.

UK-based Standard Chartered Bank has also sought a 15-per-cent stake in Vietnam's Asia Commercial Bank, while Singapore-based United Overseas Banking Corporation has sought a 15-per-cent interest in Southern Bank.

"If domestic banks can make use of this foreign-investor interest, the banking sector will be stronger, and banking stocks will better perform their role on the stock exchange as a magnet for foreign capital," said the Kim Long Securities analyst. (VNS)

Closed-end fund cut holdings in oil company

Friday, May 16, 2008
Oil and steel trader Thu Duc Trading and Import Export Joint Stock Company informed the exchange closed-end fund VF1 reduced its holding to 3.11% from 5.21% by selling 74,710 shares.
Shares of Thu Duc fell for the seventh straight session to finish 1.6 percent lower at VND24,100.
VF1 shares posted their ninth consecutive fall to close at VND12,300, down 1.6 percent for the day

PVFC stops stake purchase

Friday, May 16, 2008
PetroVietnam Finance Corporation, known as PVFC, bought 834,250 shares in oil drilling firm PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services to raise its holding to 7.21% from 6.36%, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange’s Web site reported after the market closed on Wednesday.
PVFC had planned to buy one million shares but canceled the sale, which started in February, after buying 834,250 shares.
The share purchase was cut short because of the market’s ongoing decline.

Stock market nosedive could be near the end: PXP’s Snowball

Friday, May 16, 2008
Viet Nam’s stocks may be bottoming out, said Kevin Snowball, a director of PXP Viet Nam Asset Management Ltd. in Ho Chi Minh City, in a television interview in Singapore this week.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange’ VN-Index hit its ninth-straight day of losses Thursday, losing 8.83 points, or 1.85%, to dose at a fresh 52-week-low of 466.67.

The index has fallen more than 49% this year to become the world’s worst performing stock exchange.

Tell us a little bit about the Viet Nam Value Fund that PXP is preparing to introduce to the market–how much and when is it likely to be launched?

Kevin Snowball: We’re looking for a maximum of US$200 million and we’re very much in the early planning and discussion stages at the moment because it’ll take four or five months to get a listing organized.

So we’re looking at various ways to speed that process up, whether it be launching as a private fund initially, which we will seed, and then beginning the IPO process at the same time.

The point of it being (called) the Vietnam Value Fund is that we are starting to see value in the market now and that may not necessarily be the case in October/November.

Have you got people hammering on your door wanting to give you the money? Do you think you’ll have any problems getting this $200 million?

Not necessarily hammering on the door.

Obviously people tend to be much keener on markets when they’re up than when they’re down as significantly as ours is over the year to date.

But we are seeing some interest out there.

If you look back two years to the last time the index was at this level, when really the whole history of the interest in (the stock market of) Vietnam started in early 2006, then anybody who missed the first run is being given a second opportunity, if you like.

And unless you believe that the economic problems are destroying the long-term story in Vietnam – which we very dearly don’t – then this seems to us to be a good opportunity to have another look.

Well, not everybody does believe that the economic problems are resolvable, at least in the short-term. Last Friday, the Royal Bank of Scotland issued a research report called “Vietnam – not another China,” which says Vietnam lacks the same scale advantages as China. Now that suggests that the kind of growth we’ve seen in China, which has gone on now for two decades, is not going to be repeated in Viet Nam. What’s your view?

I’ve only seen a brief summary of the report (and) the story seems to be predicated on the fact that Vietnam has a population of only 85 million whereas Guang Dong (Province), for example, which is responsible for 30 percent of China’s total exports, has a population of about 95 (million) and then can also draw on surrounding provinces for another 150 or so million people.

It (the report) does say that Vietnam’s weight is roughly half the China level and I think the point is that there is no new China.

China’s population is roughly 25 percent of the world’s and Vietnam is the new Viet Nam (not the new China).

They do conclude that Vietnam is the next Asian Tiger.

We’ve been saying for the last four or five years Viet Nam is the last Asian Tiger.

So that said, we still have to deal with the fundamental problem that stocks have collapsed. Do you think they’re near a bottom?

I think they may be.

We released a report last month, which is based on a quote from Barton Brigg’s new book, which is World’s War on Wisdom, that the bottom of a bear market is, by definition, the point of maximum bearishness.

Before the government stepped in at the end of March to reduce the daily trading band it was pretty difficult to imagine a situation where people could be more bearish than they were at that stage.

But they seem to be getting there at the moment.

I think it’s largely due to the fact that we can’t see any noticeable improvements in monetary policy and we can’t see that the government has come out to state its next objectives in terms of calming things down.

But that said, the National Assembly is in session at the moment and I imagine that the economy is pretty high on the agenda.

So when that (session) finishes in the next week or so I imagine we’ll get a dearer picture of the future development.

So you’re going to be focusing on 15 cheap stocks – it’s going to be a small-scale fund, is that right?

We’ll obviously look at the whole market, also to a lesser extent Hanoi, which doesn’t have quite the same quality.

But what we can see is that the market as a whole is on around 12-and-a-half times 2008 earnings and we can see 65 of the 150-odd stocks are on 10 times earnings or less.

So we basically start with that and filter through and get rid of the small companies, get rid of the companies whose earnings we don’t trust or the management we’re not terribly impressed with – and that should give us 15 stocks. (TN, Bloomberg)

Low trading volumes hint at market freeze

Friday, May 16, 2008
The HCM City Stock Exchange continued to see shares prices battered in almost all codes yesterday, while trading volumes continue to hover at almost record lows.

The VN-Index slipped another 8.83 points, or 1.86 per cent, on the day to close at 466.67. In eight-straight sessions of declines, the Index has lost an overall 55.69 points, or 11 per cent of its value.

Volume in yesterday’s trading was just over two million shares, worth around VND84 billion (US$5.2 million). Foreign investor trading was also modest, with 757,000 shares bought and 282,860 sold.

Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) saw a volume of only 6,000 shares yesterday, when it has historically been on the stocks with highest liquidity, posting transaction volumes of millions per day as recently as a month ago.

Of 154 listed codes on the exchange, only two codes were gainers yesterday while fully 150 hit the floor. Buying was so depressed that 99 per cent of buy orders were matched immediately, while some investors couldn’t sell shares even after offering them at floor prices.

"Many people don’t even bother to come here anymore to observe market developments," said Pham Ngoc Linh, an investor with SeABank Securities Co. "Without even looking, they already know that share prices are going to keep falling."

According to the State Securities Commission, the problems involving the stock market were not only with the market but also related to the economic situation, so measures supporting the market had to wait on broader Government decisions on how to manage the economy.

The commission held a meeting on Wednesday discussing measures for the market and submitted its report to the Government for consideration yesterday. If approved, some measures would be applied instantly, the commission said.

Meanwhile, investors worried that current market developments might send the market into a long-lasting freeze similar to that in 2002-06. The VN-Index then fell from 500 points to around 130, and the market remained level for most of the four-year period.

"There is little chance that the market will freeze," said financial analyst Nguyen Quang A, former board chairman of VPBank.

"The stock market is playing a very important role in the economy with total capitalisation reaching 45 per cent of national GDP at the beginning of the year, so the Government has to take necessary measures to keep it stable and healthy," he said.

"The market has become a familiar investment channel for the public as well as a reliable channel for companies to raise capital. The people’s knowledge of the stock market has also improved greatly. They won’t abandon it."

May 16, Stock market bottom unfathomable

Friday, May 16, 2008
Stock market ended a week by another fall, marking the tenth consecutively decreasing session. The VN Index slipped another 6.63 points or 1.42% to close at 460.04 pts with the total matching order trade of 8,131,240 shares and fund certificates worth 325 billion dong. After ten declines, the VN Index lost 62.32 points in total.

Among 154 shares and fund certificates being listed on the southern bourse, the stock market witnessed 16 shares increasing, one share with no trades namely BTC, seven others stood still and 130 shares decreasing.

Key stock continued falling to floor price like STB, FPT, DPM and VNM.

Out of 16 share codes increasing, there were 11 shares hitting the ceiling price including ITA up 1,000 dong to 72,500 dong, IMP leaped 2,000 to 125,000, VHG added 500 and others such as PMS, CYC, DPR, NSC, TRC, TSC and VGP.

DPM reached the biggest trading volume with 2,270,960 shares, followed by VFMVF1 with 434,880, SBT with 416,610, HPG with 397,070, PVD with 385,360, STB with 329,920 and others like RAL, VTO, HSI and PPC.

Foreign investors bought 102 shares and two fund certificates with the total volume of over 1.5 million shares, of which DPM took the first place with 211,180 shares, followed by PVD with 158,280, HPG with 95,740, VNM with 87,100, ITA with 85,760 and SSI with 70,820 shares changing hands.

Similar to the southern bourse, the Hanoi Securities Trading Center (HaSTC) today May 16 still kept decreasing impetus from previous trading sessions on the stock market by falling another 2.35 points or 1.65% to end at 139.74 pts with the total market trade of 4,476,200 shares worth over 138 billion dong.

Amongst 136 listed shares on the northern bourse, the stock market recorded 14 shares increasing while 108 others decreasing, two shares stood still and 12 shares with no trades.

14 shares increasing were L62 and SDC up 900 dong per share, CJC +700, CAP and VTL +500, POT, TBC and VFR+300, KBC and TKU +200, BBS, BCC, CIC and PPG added 100 dong per share.

Two shares stood still namely HNM and XMC.
12 shares with no trades were B82, C92, CID, DTC, HBE, HPS, HSC, KMF, LBE, LUT, NPS and SD3.

MIC kept being the strongest decliner when losing 3,000 dong and followed by BVS slipped 1,600, ACB and RCL dropped 1,500 and SD2 lost 1,400 dong per share.

ACB reached the biggest trading volume with 534,900 shares, followed by PVS with 417,900, DBC with 291,600, PVI with 249,600, PAN with 198,200, NTP with 191,300, TBC with 160,400, NBC with 139,700 and NLC with 130,400.

SeABank expands to Mekong Delta

Friday, May 16, 2008
Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank) on May 15 is to officially inaugurate Can Tho branch, marking the first branch in the Mekong Delta area.
At present, the bank's dong deposit interest rate is 12% per year for terms of 7, 9, 12 and 13 months and 11.5% for 1, 3 and 6 month terms.
That interest rate is 6% per year in US dollar for terms of from seven months to 13 months.