Vietnam Business & Weather Briefing (August 15): Stock Market Remains Attractive to Foreign Investors

Business Briefing

Gold rate

As of 9 am on August 15, DOJI listed the gold price at VND 66.4 million/tael (buying) and VND 67.4 million/tael (selling). The difference between buying and selling gold at DOJI is 1 million dong/tael. Compared to the opening session of the previous session (August 14), the gold price at DOJI decreased by 150,000 VND/tael in both buying and selling directions.

Meanwhile, Saigon SJC VBDQ Company listed, the gold price bought 66.5 million dong/tael; selling price is 67.5 million VND/tael. The difference between buying and selling price of SJC gold is 1 million dong/tael. Compared to the opening session of the previous session (August 14), the gold price at Saigon SJC VBDQ Company decreased by 100,000 VND/tael in both buying and selling directions.

Photo: Zing

Reference exchange rate

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate for the US dollar at VND 23,160/USD on August 15, increasing VND 10 from the last working day of the previous week (August 12). With the current trading band of +/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is VND 23,855/USD, and the floor rate is VND 22,465/USD.

The opening-hour rates at many commercial banks stayed stable. At 8:30 am, BIDV listed the buying rate at VND 23,255/USD and the selling rate at VND 23,535/USD, both unchanged from the end of August 12. Vietcombank also kept both rates unchanged at VND 23,220/USD (buying) and VND 23,530/USD (selling). During the week from August 8-12, the daily reference exchange rate for the US dollar mostly followed a downward trend, except for Tuesday (August 9). It ended the week down VND 22.

Photo: Zing

Stock market news: Vietnam stock market remains attractive to foreign investors

Foreign investors net purchased 14.8 million stocks, worth some VND 80 billion (USD 3,42 million) during the week from August 8 – 12, showing that the Vietnamese securities market remained attractive to them. The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) has risen for the fifth week straight on the back of oil, steel and electricity securities, after hitting a bottom of around 1,140 points in early July.

It ended the week at 1,262.33 points, 9.59 points higher than the previous week, gradually approaching the next resistance zone of 1260–1285 points. On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index picked up 3.52 points to settle at 303.42 points on August 12. UPCoM-Index also inched up 1.52 points to 92.84 points, according to VNA.

Photo: Zing

Investment news: Phu Quoc welcomes increasing investment in urban development

Attracting large capital for urban development is essential for Phu Quoc city, which houses Phu Quoc island – Vietnam's largest in the southern province of Kien Giang, serving its diverse and sustainable growth after years of investing in the entertainment-resort tourism industry.

A survey by the Vietnam Institute of Real Estate Studies (VIRES) showed that, in the past 3-5 years, over 90% of investors participated in the market’s tourism-resort realty segment. However, at the moment, the focus of investment has shifted to urban projects boasting transparent legality, with over 60% of investors interested in this segment. The vast majority of them chose long-term investment, expecting that the projects’ prices will increase many times in the coming years.

Vice president of VIRES Pham Nguyen Toan noted Phu Quoc is gradually transforming itself into a profitable investment and settlement destination. He also singled out shortcomings such as limited land supply, and a lack of new, sustainable, and multi-functional development models in health care, education, commerce, services, finance, and banking.

Vice Secretary of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association Truong Van Quang said Phu Quoc is both a marine urban and economic area, hence a necessity to attract investment for growth in all of its four pillars – the entertainment industry, resort tourism, banking-financial services, and marine economy. Its planning should be sustainable and environmentally friendly, he added.

According to the Vietnam Institute for Urban and Rural Planning (VIUP), the city’s overall planning orientation to 2040 covers 12 development zones based on landscape features, natural ecology, topographical features, and other conditions. Forecasting Phu Quoc’s real estate market for 2022 - 2025, Nguyen Van Dinh, Vice President of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association, said the local urban and residential segment, due to its scarcity and development potential, will still attract the attention of investors across the country, especially regarding mainstream projects with good quality infrastructure, beautiful landscape, and effective business exploitation.

Photo: Zing

Aviation news: VABA proposal raising domestic airfare ceiling

The president of the Vietnam Aviation Business Association (VABA) has proposed to adjust the ceiling fare for domestic airlines to promote the industry's recovery. According to Dung, the domestic market has fully recovered compared to before the pandemic, with domestic passenger transport increasing by 12% compared to 2019, but in contrast, the international market has recovered very slowly. At the same time, revenue was disproportionate due to increased fuel prices and some input prices, airlines still suffered losses, and liquidity did not improve much, the VABA chairman said.

To cope with these difficulties, Dung said aviation businesses have made important changes, especially in restructuring to adapt to new trends. All airlines also prepare to open new routes quite timely for the recovery period. Dung said the biggest difficulties and obstacles of aviation enterprises were the international routes as they must adjust the roundabout due to the negative effect of disputes, putting more cost on the operation of aviation.

At the same time, gasoline prices were high, significantly affecting businesses. Although the pandemic has eased, it has not ended, meaning there are still potential international and domestic risks. Dung said many countries are still cautious in opening the sky, especially those with a large number of visitors to Vietnam, causing the aviation market to lose many passengers and delaying the recovery of international routes. Another factor that hinders the recovery of the aviation industry is bottlenecks in infrastructure, especially for large airports such as Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports.

Sharing specific difficulties in his business, Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of Vietravel, said that airlines face grave problems in terms of labor and finance, as well as high fuel prices, which sometimes account for over 60% of the cost. To deal with such problems, VABA suggested the aviation industry and State agencies coordinate with each other to improve the regulation, and airport infrastructure, and thoroughly solve congestion at major airports.

Dung from the VABA asked to speed up the development of aviation infrastructure and amend policies and legal regulations related to the aviation industry, including the mobilization of investment capital for the infrastructure of the sector. The association asked relevant authorities to study and adjust the domestic ceiling price bracket for airlines and continue to maintain supporting policies related to land and tax exemption and reduction.

In July, to deal with fuel prices, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) also proposed raising air service prices on domestic routes. In a recent proposal sent to the Ministry of Transport, CAAV asked for a reduction in environmental protection taxes and import taxes on jet fuels, and an increase in service fees on domestic routes.

Photo: Suc Khoe & Doi Song

Weather Forecast

August 16: Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City will be sunny all day. However, there can be occasional showers and thunderstorms during the night.

Humidity tends to increase in the Northern provinces in the coming days due to a low-pressure trough. Meanwhile, the volume of rain in the South tends to decrease with a stronger southwest monsoon.

In the South China Sea area (including the waters of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes) there were showers and strong thunderstorms operating for the next 1-2 days.

Vietnam Business & Weather Briefing (August 11): Reference Exchange Rate Down VND 11 Vietnam Business & Weather Briefing (August 11): Vietnam to increase coal imports in 2025-2035 period, ten tonnes of Vietnamese longan exported to Australia.

Vietnam Business & Weather Briefing (August 12): Petrol Prices Further Down Vietnam Business & Weather Briefing (August 12): Air passengers reach a record number in July, seafood exports expected to reach 3 billion USD in Q3

Vietnam Business & Weather Briefing (August 14): Rain Will Come Back to Hanoi Vietnam Business & Weather Briefing (August 14): Vietnam Airlines expands partnerships to boot multi-sector businesses, Vietnam to have a national marine spatial plan by 2030, ...