Logo of the London Stock Exchange. The euro rose against the dollar but was down versus sterling. Oil prices rebounded meanwhile, after slumping Friday to the lowest levels in more than one year. Bitcoin extended its slide, dropping under US$4,000 to US$3,541.02 - the lowest level for 14 months. "Italian stocks have been the outperformer in Europe ... on reports that the government may consider reducing its deficit target in a bid to avert a disciplinary procedure in Brussels and a backlash in the markets," noted Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda trading group. "The pound is also a little higher ... after (British Prime Minister) Theresa May overcame the first, and smallest, hurdle to her Brexit deal getting over the line." May convened her cabinet and updated Britain's parliament on the newly-agreed Brexit deal Monday, as she begins the tricky task of selling the plan to her sceptical country. In Rome, Italy's populist government appears open to reducing its draft budget … [Read more...] about European stock markets rally on Brexit deal, Italy budget hopes
Black market records
Most listed Vietnamese companies in the black
By Minh Son  November 13, 2018 | 09:11 am GMT+7 Vietcombank's net profit grew 15.1 percent from January to September 2018. Photo by Reuters/Kham Eighty-six percent of 845 businesses listed on Vietnam’s stock markets made profits in the first nine months of 2018. According to stock market database Fiinpro, a subsidiary of financial information corporation StoxPlus, these 845 businesses are those that have announced business results as of Nov.7. The banking sector, consisting of 17 listed banks, topped the market with a profit growth of 39 percent, lower than the 50 percent plus growth they recorded in the first half of this year. Three banks that had the highest credit growth rate since the beginning of the year are TPBank at 16.1 percent, HDBank (15.7 percent) and Vietcombank (15.1 percent). The finance sector came second in profit growth at 32 percent, and industrial services third at 31 percent. Telecommunications recorded the sharpest decline in growth … [Read more...] about Most listed Vietnamese companies in the black
BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 28/9
HCMC to see soaring office demand in next four years As Southeast Asian economies expand, office demand, particularly from technology, e-commerce, and co-working space companies, is expected to rise by an estimated 6 per cent annually between 2018 and 2021, with Ho Chi Minh City seeing a rate of 10 per cent in the period, according to JLL Vietnam. As at the end of the second quarter of 2018, total stock in Ho Chi Minh City’s office market increased to 1,945,000 sq m, with overall Grade A and B occupancy rates standing at a high of above 95 per cent. The overall rental rate is expected to continue its upwards trend with support from healthy demand and increased quality in future supply. A large volume of high-quality Grade B supply is also projected to be completed by 2020 and will likely put pressure on Grade A in the future, especially long-standing Grade A projects with deteriorating construction quality. In Hanoi, demand for Grade A and B office space in 2018-2019 … [Read more...] about BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 28/9
Chợ Rẫy Hospital doctor devotes self to the poor
Viet Nam News HCM CITY — Lê Minh Hiển, head of Community Service Office in HCM City’s Chợ Rẫy Hospital, wakes up early every weekend and goes to nearby provinces to give free screenings to poor and underprivileged children. Hiển has spent a decade giving free surgery to more than 10,000 poor patients, including many children with congenital heart defects and cleft palate, using donation money which has now reached VNĐ80 billion (US$3.4 million). He said after dozens of his trips to provinces, including Bến Tre, Trà Vinh and Hậu Giang, the thing that haunted him most was the eyes of children born in poverty and disease, he was quoted by the Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper as saying. “The ill children were born while their parents struggle to make a living,” he said, adding that some parents did not even have enough rice to feed their babies.. Hiển said he once found a 12-year-old-girl with … [Read more...] about Chợ Rẫy Hospital doctor devotes self to the poor
Capital market in need of FIE boost
Thin capitalisation is preventing banks from offering sufficient long-term loans to the local business community, Photo: Le Toan Thin capitalisation Many Vietnamese businesses are struggling with a debt-to-equity ratio that is too high to thrive at present. Some will eventually manage the high cost of borrowing to make earnings, while others could be making losses for a year, hoping to pull through in the next. Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, at the Vietnam Economic Forum on the Capital-Finance Market held in Hanoi last week, cited data by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam showing that 53 per cent of businesses operating in Vietnam made no profit in the year ending on December 31, 2016, and they thus could not fulfil their corporate tax obligations to the country. Although the proportion of those making a profit for the year had significantly improved from the 30 per cent recorded in previous years, Hue nevertheless asked the question: “For an economy in which up … [Read more...] about Capital market in need of FIE boost
Capital market faces imbalances
Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam’s capital market is facing a concerns in the imbalance between the credit market and the capital market. The statement was made by Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ during a forum held in Hà Nội on Tuesday, discussing challenges and solutions to expand the capital – financial market of Việt Nam. Addressing the event, part of the Việt Nam Economic Forum, the Deputy PM said it is necessary to look into the imbalance between the credit market and the capital market, between credit and other added services in banks’ credit activities, and between the short-term and long-term markets, particularly the bond market. He said 53 per cent of businesses were not making profit at the end of 2016, saying that one of the reasons for this is the lack of capital. “Many companies depend on bank loans to operate, so their financial expense is very high, plus other … [Read more...] about Capital market faces imbalances
Pepper prices hit record low, hard to recover
Pepper prices dropped to below VND60,000 ($2.6) a kilogram last week but experts warned a decrease to VND50,000 per kilogram equal to production price. At present, pepper is sold over VND60,000 a kilogram. Willem Scato van Walt Meijer, general director of Nedspice Processing Vietnam, said pepper output had been increasing sharply since high prices kept maintaining in a long time, resulting in increasing farming land to 152,000 hectare and three-fold quantity of 180,000 tons from 2010 to 2017. Subsequently, pepper became one of the agricultural products with export revenue of $1 billion annually. The decline of pepper prices is mostly caused by oversupply and overproduction. Pepper prices have gone down again because pepper farming land has increased from 420,000 to 600,000 hectare globally. According to the International Pepper Community (IPC), there was a year-on-year increase of 9 percent or 40,000 tons in the world’s pepper quantity of 472,000 tons in 2017 . Meanwhile demand … [Read more...] about Pepper prices hit record low, hard to recover
Feburary CPI at 0.73%
The consumer price index (CPI) increased in February by an estimated 0.73 per cent against January and 3.15 per cent against February 2017 as local consumers boosted purchases ahead of the Tet holiday, which fell in mid-February and prompted buying demand to spike. Image from tapchitaichinh.vn The index has risen 2.9 per cent on average in the first two months of this year against the same period last year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in a report. Among eleven goods and services in the CPI basket, nine increased, including food and catering services, by 1.53 per cent, transportation 0.79 per cent, beverages and cigarettes 0.75 per cent, other goods and services 0.74 per cent, and culture, entertainment and tourism 0.72 per cent. Director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department Ms. Do Thi Ngoc, attributed the hike to strong demand for food, beverages, cigarettes and electricity during Tet and massive rice purchase for exports to Indonesia and the … [Read more...] about Feburary CPI at 0.73%
Dollar rally pushes up local gold price
Dollar rally pushes up local gold priceBy Thanh Thuong - The Saigon Times DailyHCMC - On Tuesday morning saw gold dropping more than VND100,000 per tael from the previous day but the price suddenly edged up in the afternoon when the U.S. dollar on the black market rose to a record high.Gold prices were the same at both Saigon Jewelry Holding Company (SJC) and Phu Nhuan Jewelry Company, at VND33.67 million per tael for buying and VND33.73 million for selling. World gold prices rose by only US$5.3 (VND100,000) an ounce while domestic gold surged by nearly VND300,000 per tael. A tael is a local gold measuring unit equivalent to 1.2 troy ounces.The greenback on the unofficial market leapt to a new high of VND20,920 per dollar in HCMC and VND20,950 in Hanoi, an increase of VND500 from Monday.Many shops in HCMC stopped selling the dollar toward the end of the day for fear of risk. According to Nguyen Huu Nhon, the manager of a gold shop near Ben Thanh market in downtown HCMC, the … [Read more...] about Dollar rally pushes up local gold price
Market makes modest rise again
Market makes modest rise againBy Phuong Thao - The SaigonTimes DailyThe market opened flat but immediately began to fall backbefore hitting a low of 414.27 halfway through the second matching phase. Itthen rebounded and broke into the black in the final phase before closing justinto positive territory.Ending the session, there were around 24 million sharesworth VND460 billion traded, plunging 40% and 17.8% against the session earlierrespectively.Decliners slightly outnumbered advancers by 124 to 95, ofwhich 17 stocks went to the ceiling prices and 28 stocks plunged to the floorprices.Sacombank (STB) remained the most actively traded stock butit lost 0.7% to VND13,500 per share with 1.4 million shares changing hands,followed by Societe De Bourbon Tay Ninh Co. (SBT), which gained 0.8% toVND12,400 on the volume of 1.1 million shares.Foreign participation was high due to large put-throughtransactions in VIC and the investors were on the buying side. They acquired2.2 million shares worth … [Read more...] about Market makes modest rise again