Economic news review May 20

The central exchange rate increased by 8 VND, the VN-Index increased by 4.47 points or the country's trade balance of goods deficit in the first half of May... are some notable economic news on May 20.

Economic news review

Domestic news

In the foreign exchange market on May 20, the State Bank listed the central exchange rate at 24,247 VND/USD, an increase of 8 VND compared to the session at the end of last week.

The buying and selling prices of USD were kept unchanged by the State Bank of Vietnam at 23,400 VND/USD and 25,450 VND/USD, respectively.

On the interbank market, the dollar-dong exchange rate closed at 25,454 VND/USD, a slight increase of 4 VND compared to the session on May 17.

The dollar-dong exchange rate on the free market decreased by 100 VND for buying and 90 VND for selling, trading at 25,650 VND/USD and 25,730 VND/USD.

On the interbank money market on May 20, the average interbank VND interest rate increased by 0.05 - 0.08 percentage points for short terms while decreasing by 0.02 percentage points for 1-month terms compared to the session at the end of last week; specifically: overnight 4.03%; 1 week 4.27%; 2 weeks 4.45% and 1 month 4.63%.

The average interbank USD interest rate remained unchanged at overnight term while decreasing by 0.01 - 0.02 percentage points at the remaining terms, trading at: overnight 5.27%; 1 week 5.32%; 2 weeks 5.38%, 1 month 5.41%.

Government bond yields in the secondary market increased in most maturities except for the 3-year maturities, closing at: 3-year 1.86%; 5-year 2.01%; 7-year 2.27%; 10-year 2.75%; 15-year 2.97%.

In the open market operations, on the mortgage channel, the State Bank of Vietnam bid 5,000 billion VND with a term of 7 days, the interest rate remained at 4.25%. There were 151.13 billion VND won bids, there were 1,559.92 billion VND matured. The State Bank of Vietnam bid 28-day SBV bills, bidding interest rates. There were 800 billion VND of bills won bids with the interest rate remained at 3.85%, there were 3,550 billion VND of bills matured.

Thus, the State Bank of Vietnam pumped a net VND 1,341.21 billion into the market, the volume of treasury bills circulating in the market decreased to VND 58,740 billion, the volume on the mortgage channel decreased to VND 6,097.24 billion.

The stock market traded positively at the beginning of the week with green spreading across the market. At the end of the session, VN-Index increased by 4.47 points (+0.35%) to 1,277.58 points; HNX-Index added 1.02 points (+0.43%) to 242.57 points; UPCoM-Index increased by 0.46 points (+0.49%) to 93.53 points. Market liquidity was high with a trading value of over VND30,500 billion. Foreign investors net sold more than VND809 billion.

According to information from the General Department of Customs, from May 1 to 15, the country had a trade deficit of 2.62 billion USD, and the cumulative trade surplus from the beginning of the year to May 15 was 6.36 billion. Specifically, the export turnover in the first period of May reached 14.64 billion USD, and the import turnover reached 17.26 billion. The cumulative export turnover from the beginning of the year to May 15 reached 138.59 billion USD, and the import turnover reached 132.23 billion. The total import-export turnover of the whole country in the reporting period reached 270.82 billion USD, an increase of 17.45% over the same period in 2023.

International news

On May 20, the PBoC decided to keep the 1-year LPR at 3.45% and the 5-year LPR at 3.95%, still a record low in the country's history in the context of Beijing wanting to support the struggling economy, especially the real estate sector.

The market sees further interest rate cuts as a challenge for the PBoC because it would weaken the yuan and could hurt the import sector. Instead, the Chinese government has in recent days issued a number of other economic stimulus measures, mainly targeting the real estate market by easing some transaction restrictions and encouraging local governments to buy back private projects on the market.

According to Rightmove's survey results, the UK's HPI house price index increased for the fifth consecutive month with a rate of 0.8% compared to the previous month in May after increasing by 1.1% the previous month, to an average of 375,131 GBP/house, an increase of more than 2,800 GBP compared to April.

The main driver of house price growth despite high discount rates is increased demand from buyers who delayed their purchase plans last year, with the number of homes sold in the first four months of this year up 17% compared to the same period in 2023, according to Rightmove.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/diem-lai-thong-tin-kinh-te-ngay-205-151855-151855.html