Economic news review December 19

The central exchange rate increased by 26 VND, the VN-Index decreased by 11.33 points, and gasoline prices increased simultaneously... are some notable economic news on December 19.

Economic news review

Domestic news

Foreign exchange market, session 19/12, State Bank listed the central exchange rate at 24,304 VND/USD, a sharp increase of 26 VND compared to the previous session.

The USD selling price was kept unchanged by the Exchange at 23,400 VND/USD and 25,450 VND/USD, respectively.

On the interbank market, the USD-VND exchange rate closed at 25,460 VND/USD, up 7 VND compared to the session on December 18.

The dollar-dong exchange rate on the free market increased by 30 VND in both buying and selling directions, trading at 25,650 VND/USD and 25,750 VND/USD.

Interbank money market, December 19, the average interbank VND interest rate decreased by 0.01 - 0.10 percentage points in most terms of 1 month or less, except for an increase of 0.01 percentage point in the 2-week term compared to the previous session; specifically: overnight 2.70%; 1 week 3.67%; 2 weeks 4.76 and 1 month 4.96%. The average interbank USD interest rate decreased by 0.10 - 0.18 percentage points in all terms, trading at: overnight 4.44%; 1 week 4.51%; 2 weeks 4.60%, 1 month 4.64%.

Government bond yields in the secondary market continued to increase sharply across all maturities, closing at: 3-year 1.95%; 5-year 2.24%; 7-year 2.49%; 10-year 2.97%; 15-year 3.11%.

In open market operations, on the mortgage channel, the State Bank of Vietnam bid 1,000 billion VND, 7-day term, interest rate at 4.0%. There was 1,000 billion VND won; there was 20,000 billion VND maturing. The State Bank of Vietnam bid for SBV bills in 2 terms of 7 days and 14 days, bidding for interest rates. There was 10,000 billion VND won for 7-day term and 3,700 billion VND won for 14-day term, both with interest rate of 4.0%. There were 7,025 billion VND maturing bills.

Thus, the State Bank of Vietnam net withdrew VND25,675 billion from the market through the open market channel in yesterday's session. There were VND4,999.93 billion circulating on the mortgage channel, and VND83,310 billion in treasury bills circulating on the market.

The stock market fluctuated, however, the pull appeared at the end of the session, helping the indices narrow the decline and close the session not too negatively. At the end of the session, VN-Index decreased by 11.33 points (-0.89%) to 1,254.67 points; HNX-Index added 0.11 points (+0.05%) to 227.54 points; UPCoM-Index lost 0.34 points (-0.37%) to 92.73 points. Market liquidity increased significantly compared to recent sessions with a transaction value of over VND 19,500 billion. Foreign investors net sold VND 562 billion on all 3 exchanges.

Gasoline prices increased simultaneously from December 19 after adjustments by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance. Specifically, E5 RON 92 gasoline has a new price of VND20,244/liter, an increase of VND383/liter compared to the current base price; RON 95-III gasoline has a new price of VND21,004/liter, an increase of VND408/liter; 0.05S diesel oil price was adjusted to VND18,733/liter, an increase of VND478/liter; kerosene has a new price of VND18,968/liter, an increase of VND402/liter; 180CST 3.5S fuel oil was adjusted to VND15,903/kg, an increase of VND329/kg.

International News

The US Census Bureau announced that the country's GDP officially increased by 3.1% compared to the previous quarter in the third quarter, revised higher than the 2.8% according to the initial statistical results. Next, in the labor market, the number of initial unemployment benefits applications in the month of December 14 was 220 thousand applications, down from 242 thousand applications the previous week and at the same time lower than the forecast of 229 thousand applications. The average number of applications in the most recent 4 weeks was 225.5 thousand, up 1.25 thousand compared to the previous 4 weeks.

Finally, new home sales in the US reached 4.15 million units in November, higher than October's 3.96 million, surpassing the 4.09 million units expected by experts. This is the highest month of new home sales in the US since April.

The Bank of England (BoE) left its policy rate unchanged at its year-end meeting. At its meeting yesterday, December 19, the BoE said that the CPI inflation index compared to the same period in November increased to 2.6% from 1.7% recorded in September, mainly due to the prices of core goods and food.

In addition, service inflation remains high. The BoE believes that inflation may continue to increase slightly in the coming time. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC, under the BoE) affirmed its determination to pursue the inflation target of 2.0% while maintaining employment growth. In this meeting, the MPC decided to keep the policy interest rate unchanged at 4.75% with the consensus of 6/9 members. The remaining 3 members supported a 25 basis point cut in the policy interest rate. The MPC will continue to rely on inflation and economic data in the following meetings to make appropriate decisions on the direction of monetary policy.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) decided not to raise its policy interest rate. At this meeting, 8 out of 9 members of the BoJ Monetary Policy Board supported keeping the policy rate at 0.25%, while only 1 member supported raising the rate by 25 basis points. The BoJ said that the Japanese economy is recovering at a moderate pace, and some sectors remain weak.

The consumer price index (CPI) has been fluctuating in the range of 2.0% - 2.5% recently due to continued increases in service prices, reflecting the results of wage increases for workers. The BoJ continues to aim for price stability at 2%, and will implement appropriate monetary policy to achieve the target in a sustainable and stable manner.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/diem-lai-thong-tin-kinh-te-ngay-1912-159124-159124.html