REUTERS – A U.S. economic contraction in the fourth quarter pressured stocks in Europe and the United States on Wednesday even as it bolstered expectations the U.S. central bank will continue its easy monetary policy and kept the euro near a 14-month high. Positive stock sentiment after strong results at Boeing and Amazon.com and a strong private sector employment report was largely offset... 

Despite some early profit taking, the local market gained ground for a fifth straight session on Tuesday thanks to blue-chip rally and strong foreign trading. However, liquidity fell back sharply from the previous day to over VND1.3 trillion. The market swung between red and green as the heavyweights such as VCB and BVH saw volatile trading. Towards the closing session, thanks to strong demand from... 

Vietnam Export Import Commercial Bank (Eximbank) and Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) on Tuesday clinched a deal on a long-talked-about merger that would be complete in the next 3-5 years. The merger is aimed at making use of the two sides’ strengths, increasing market share, and improving competitiveness and business efficiency. The agreement is valid for five years. Eximbank is... 

Vietnam last year incurred tax losses amounting to VND4.32 trillion from the smuggling in of some 930 million packs of cigarettes. According to Pham Kien Nghiep, general secretary of the Vietnam Tobacco Association, the lost tax revenue was just VND3.2 trillion in 2008, which means the smuggling of cigarettes into Vietnam has been on the rise. Nghiep said that in addition to the loss of VND4.32 trillion,... 

Property enterprises have varied the apartment-for-rent model aiming to slash their apartment inventory, with one of the solutions asking for no monthly rentals from tenants but a deposit. Nguyen Van Duc, deputy director of Dat Lanh Real Estate Co., said that the firm was sounding out the market’s reactions after launching 22 apartments of the Thai An project in HCMC’s District 12 which has... 

Chinese products, with no labels or origin, are selling well at the wholesale markets in HCMC, while the current fight against low-quality goods imported from China is being lost. Importers said cheap Chinese goods with good designs were well consumed in Vietnam and generated enough profits for them to survive the current tough times. Many items that can be produced at home are imported because of... 

The Ministry of Information and Communications this year will help about 11 companies apply the international quality management process CMMi (Capability Maturity Model Integration) in software production and digital content services. This was informed by Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, deputy director of the management board for industrial and information technology projects under the ministry, at a workshop... 

A plan to purchase one million tons of rice for temporary storage will begin after the Lunar New Year holiday, said Truong Thanh Phong, chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA). He said the Prime Minister had given the nod to the plan for buying one million tons of the winder-spring rice for stockpiling. The plan is scheduled to start on February 20. The approved volume is half a million tons... 

Leading companies in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector last year earned hefty profits, even higher than their profits in 2011, despite the difficult economic situation. A financial statement of Vinamilk shows that the company in the final quarter of 2012 achieved more than VND7.2 trillion in sales revenue, nearly VND1.1 trillion higher than in the fourth quarter of 2011. The company’s... 

Over 4,200 enterprises had dissolved or suspended their operations in the year to January 20, up nearly 7% against the preceding month and 11.3% year-on-year, heard a monthly meeting of the Government on Tuesday. Meanwhile, around 3,800 new firms were established, up 10% in number but down 61.3% in registered capital against December 2012. The general picture is that the economy is still mired in...