Many people in Ho Chi Minh City have rushed to snap up electronics items put on year-end sale, and reports say consumption over the weekend rose several times above normal. The Nguyen Kim Electronics Center said its biggest promotion in 2009 with importers’ and producers’ support has attracted four to five times more customers than normal during the first three days from last Friday. The promotion,... 

HCMC – Saigon Co.op, Vietnam’s leading retail store chain operator, on Saturday opened a new convenience food store and a new supermarket in HCMC as part of its nationwide expansion plan. The Co.opMart Rach Mieu supermarket in Ward 7, Phu Nhuan District, brings the number of Co.opMart supermarkets to 18 in the city and 42 nationwide, said Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, chairman of Saigon Co.op, adding Saigon... 

Short-term lending rates in Vietnamese dong have risen strongly in the past week and are expected to stay high, supported by robust corporate demand to settle year-end payments, bankers said on Monday. Rates on overnight dong loans jumped about 200 basis points to the ceiling regulated by the central bank at 12 percent from 9-10 percent a week ago, bankers at foreign banks in Hanoi said. “Everyone... 

HCMC – Can Tho-based Western Commercial Bank expects to trade shares on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange in the first quarter next year after getting approval for listing from the central bank. Established in Can Tho City in 1988 under the name of Co Do Rural Bank, the bank had been permitted to change name and model operation from rural to urban bank in 2007. Western Bank now has chartered capital... 

Securities firms claim concern over mortgaged and leveraged stocks is unfounded. Market observers said many securities firms have allowed investors to borrow large amounts of money to buy stocks when the market was at a peak of over 600 points, which boosted the market liquidity to an all-time high in late October. However, the stock markets have been in free fall in recent weeks as heavily leveraged... 

This is because the market has been dominated by short-term speculators, not real buyers. Hanoi’s residential market has become dormant after a recent transaction frenzy. Thanh Thuy investigates. It’s a striking contrast. A month ago buyers were competing with each other in lucky draws for the rights to purchase an apartment among the 700 units in Duong Noi New Township sold by the Nam Cuong...