Vietnamnet.vn
Podcast
Four banks licensed to offer public shares
Part-privatised Vietcombank will now issue more than 436 million VND10,000 shares to all its shareholders at a ratio of 100:33.
Vietcombank Securities is the underwriter.
The issue will increase Vietcombank's charter capital to VND17.59 trillion (US$837.61 million) or by 33 per cent and is expected to help increase the bank's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) to 9-10 per cent from 8.45.
TienPhong Bank will offer 100 million VND10,000 shares to its shareholders.
The FPT Securities-brokered issue will help the bank raise its registered capital to the minimum legal requirement of VND3 trillion ($142.85 million) by year's end.
VP Bank will offer more than 154 million shares worth VND1.54 trillion and a total face value ($73.33 million) to its shareholders at a ratio of 100:62,83.
The issue will increase the bank's charter capital to VND3.99 trillion ($190 million) from VND2.45 trillion ($116.67 million).
Its in-house securities (VP Bank Securities) will serve as underwriter.
Western Bank will offer 100 million VND10,000 shares.
Of these, 69.4 million shares will go to its shareholders; 600,000 to its employees and the remaining 30 million shares to strategic investors.
E-Viet Securities will act as broker.
Potential investors can register to buy from Friday, December 10.
Indexes slips ahead profit-taking
Trading volume on the Ha Noi bourse today was unusually higher than HCM City with more than 70.59 million shares worth VND1.28 trillion (US$64 million) changing hands.
The volume on the HCM City exchange was 49 million and a total value of VND1 trillion.
Both indexes slipped despite the higher volume.
The VN-Index slid 0.36 per cent to 499.93 and the HN-index 1.59 per cent to 106.7.
The falling indexes and rising volume reflected the profit-taking that has followed six successive days of VN-Index rises and two of the HN-Index.
HCM City declines outnumbered gains 121-104 with 45 steady.
The number of declines in Ha Noi were three times higher than gains with 40 unchanged.
But only four shares - PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), Thu Duc Wasuco (TDW), Tan Tien Plastics (TTD) and Viet Thang Feed (VTF) - hit their floor prices.
About 30, including An Giang Seafood (AGF), Alphanam (ALP), Vien Dong Pharmaceutical (DVD) and Gemadept (GMD) and Vinafco (VFC), reached their ceiling price.
Donors eye economic stability
Stabilising the macro-economy and focusing on sustainable development would be the major theme of the yearly Consultative Group meeting in Ha Noi next month, World Bank's director, Viet Nam, Victoria Kwakwa told a news conference yesterday.
The director listed the major issues to be discussed at the two-day meeting from Tuesday, December 7 as:
The key opportunities and threats to Viet Nam as a Middle-Income Country (MIC); priorities for sustainable development; ensuring social inclusion; and the future of development partnerships as Viet Nam enters the group of medium-income countries.
Viet Nam now had to deal with the difficulties and challenges of a middle-income country while maintaining and consolidating the benefits it had gained as a low-income country, director Kwakwa said .
The meeting would provide participants with the chance to discuss the opportunities and threats faced by Viet Nam as an MIC.
They were expected to discuss the macro-economy and directions for 2011; governance, transparency and the effectiveness of the State-owned sector; governance and corruption.
Director Kwakwa said middle-income countries had gradually raised their poverty standard and it was time for Viet Nam to do the same as its poverty benchmark was still the region's lowest.
As a result, the meeting was scheduled to talk more about poverty reduction; poverty benchmarks and the targeting of persistent poverty.
Viet Nam's status as a middle-income country also meant that its relationship with development partners would change.
The country might need and receive fewer preferential loans and assistance from sponsor countries, but, in turn, it could raise a clearer and stronger voice in forums and share equality with its partners, she said.
Although the commitment of financial support might decrease with MIC status, it also proved that the sponsors were more positive about Viet Nam's development.
The director said she hoped that Viet Nam would change from a support receiver to a sponsor of other countries.
The director together with Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc will chair the Consultative Group meeting and Viet Nam Government representatives, bilateral and multilateral donors and non governmental organisations will attend.
The Viet Nam Business Forum of domestic and foreign participants will be held tomorrow; the World Bank's International Finance Corporation and the Planning and Investment Ministry are its organisers.
The forum will gauge perceptions of the investment environment; brief participants about Viet Nam's economy and the plans for 2011 and assess reports from working groups.
IFC Regional Manager for Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand Simon Andrews said ways to improve the competitiveness of Viet Nam as well as recommendations to upgrade the banking system and labour market would top the agenda.
The forum is designed promote dialogue between the Viet Nam Government and the business community so as to attract more investment and stimulate growth.
Development partners committed more than US$8 billion in support of Viet Nam's poverty reduction and development agenda at last year's meeting.
Trade fair opens in HCM City
The annual international trade fair, Viet Nam Expo, will open today until Saturday, providing opportunities for local and foreign businesses to find partners.
More than 250 companies from Viet Nam, Algeria, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Nigeria, the US among others will display their products and services at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre.
Exhibits include industrial machinery and equipment, printing technology, building materials, electrical, electronic, IT and telecommunication products, farm produce, processed food, garments, handicrafts and cosmetics.
The expo organiser, the Viet Nam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (VINEXAD), will arrange a Nigeria-Viet Nam trade and investment forum tomorrow.
On December 3 there will be a tour for exhibitors to visit HCM City's industrial parks and factories.
During the four-day event, there will also be direct business to business sessions
The expo venue is at 799 Nguyen Van Linh Avenue, Phu My Hung New Urban Area in the city's District 7.
State Bank keeps prime rate at 9%
The State Bank of Viet Nam has decided to hold the prime interest rate for the Vietnamese dong at 9 per cent for at least one month.
The discount rate remained unchanged at 7 per cent, while the refinancing and overnight interbank rates stayed at 9.
Earlier this month, the central bank raised the interest rate by 1 per cent to 9 per cent per year, the first increase in 11 months, following announcements of no dong-devaluation and seven measures to try to cool inflation in the closing months of the year.
Annual inflation in Viet Nam hit 11.09 per cent year -on- year in November, a 15-month record high as food prices soared after severe flooding in the central area killed scores of people and washed away crops and homes. Consumer demand also increased in the run up to Lunar New Year.
The consumer price index (CPI) is estimated to have risen 1.86 percent from October.
The latest CPI suggests that the average annual inflation, which the government had targeted at 8 per cent or less, may unavoidably be in the double digits.
Meanwhile, small commercial banks have hiked deposit rates to 13-14 per cent to attract customers who are seriously worried about the weakness of the dong.
Western Bank, Maritime Bank and HDBank are offering 13.5 per cent interest for one and two month term deposits while Saigonbank, SHB, SeAbank, and Western Bank are offering 13.4-13.6 per cent for mid-term deposits.
Large deposits may also receive a 1-2 per cent bonus.
At the same time, borrowing rates rose to 18-21 per cent per year.
Despite the central bank's attempts to cool the US dollar, the greenback remains expensive on the streets, rising to VND21,400-21,450, up VND100 on Sunday.
Better information security urged
Electronics enterprises were encouraged to implement measures to improve information security, respect customer privacy and increase the quality of their services in order to succeed in e-trading activities, a conference heard yesterday.
The conference themed "Customer protection in e-trade", which aims to raise awareness of customer protection in e-trading and contribute to the healthy and sustainable development of e-commerce in Viet Nam, opened yesterday in Ha Noi.
The event was organised by the Competition Administration Department and the Viet Nam E-Commerce Portal.
Nguyen Phuong Nam, deputy head of the department, said along with the robust development of internet services in Viet Nam, e-trading activities had grown significantly in recent times and had provided customers with many benefits.
"E-trade enables customers to access the global market to buy almost any type of products, with a variety of options and preferential prices thanks to reduced costs by avoiding middleman services," Nam said.
However, Nam warned that e-trade customers were still concerned about information security and had a fear of being exploited by unfair trade practices, unsecure payment methods and personal data leaks.
"These are some of the biggest challenges to e-commerce development in Viet Nam which Vietnamese authorities and e-commerce companies are striving to overcome," he said.
E-commerce has expanded significantly since people first began using the internet in Viet Nam electronic payments with their bank cards while the number of e-commerce websites, such as www.chodientu.vn and www.azshop.vn, has risen robustly.
Vu Thi Bach Nga, head of the department's customer protection section said in addition to its outstanding advantages, e-commerce had also brought about many risks for customers who did not have a clear understanding of e-commerce regulations and practices.
"E-commerce helps companies reduce the costs of production, marketing and sales as well as decrease transaction times. However, unsafe information security, user data leaks, ambiguity in pricing and product advertising have been damaging to customer rights as well," Nga said.
She urged companies to strictly adhere to current e-trade laws and regulations and strengthen customer belief in good e-trade practices by improving information security and the quality of their products and services.
E-trade customers also needed to do their part to raise their own awareness of good e-trade practices and increase their supervision of websites offering electronic products and services to protect their rights, Nga said.
VN-Index rises for sixth day
Nearly 100 penny stocks hit their ceiling prices on the HCM City Stock Exchange yesterday, helping the VN-Index finish up for the sixth consecutive day – and with the highest trading volume since mid-September.
Gains were capped, however, by the more modest performance by blue chips and some profit-taking by investors.
The VN-Index closed at 451.59 points, up 1.17 per cent over the previous session, with the volume of trades reaching nearly 67 million shares, worth a total of VND1.38 trillion (US$69 million).
High-performing penny stocks included Alphanam (ALP), Nam Viet Seafood (ANV), Da Nang Rubber (DRC), Dien Quang Lamp (DQC), Gemadept (GMD), Thong Nhat Rubber (TNC), Tai Nguyen Co (TNT), Vitaco Petrolimex Transport (VTO) and Vinaship (VNA).
Investors also rushed to buy back Vien Dong Pharmaceutical (DVD), the price of which had been rocked on Monday by accusations of trading violations against its chairman, Le Van Dung. DVD rose to its ceiling price at VND49,200 (US$2.46) per share on an enormous volume of 617,000 shares traded, compared to a typical average of only 100,000 for this share.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HN-Index also rose by over 3 per cent yesterday to close at 108.43 points, with 300 out of 354 listed shares gaining.
PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) was again the most-active share nationwide, with 7.8 million changing hands.
Trang An Securities Co analyst Ngo Minh Duc said high volumes yesterday on both exchanges demonstrated that a number of investors were moving to realise profits.
"However," Duc said, "the market still lacks support of from economic factors – the high exchange rate and interest rates, a big trade deficit, and poor business performance by listed firms. It would actually be risky if investors continued rushing to buy shares at their ceiling prices tomorrow."
He pointed to 480 as the next strong resistance mark for the VN-Index.
Source: VNS
.svg){kind=icon}
