|
Bond yields rise on shift to riskier assets
Vietnamese government bond yields rose up to 30 basis points in the past week as investors reduced bond holdings to invest in riskier assets such as stocks, traders said on Monday.
They said the yield on the one-year dong bond rose to around 8.7-8.8 percent from 8.5 percent a week ago and about 8.2 percent in early May.
"It won't be long before the yield hits 9 percent as bond-divesting remains strong," a bond trader in Hanoi said.
Yields dipped as low as 7-7.5 percent in February as investors, fearing the economic downturn, parked funds in safe-haven, government-backed debt.
Vietnam's economic growth slowed to its lowest level in more than a decade in the first quarter as exports and foreign investment succumbed to the global slowdown, but the government said the economy would pick up in subsequent quarters as its $8 billion stimulus package kicked in.
The benchmark index of Vietnam's main Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange has gained more than 30 percent this month. The index has rallied around 70 percent since early March in lockstep with other world markets.
On the dollar front, banks have started to cut interest rates on dollar deposits with state-run banks slashing the 12-month rates to as low as 1.94 percent as they moved to cut rates on dollar loans to spur borrowing, data from the central bank showed.
State media quoted Asia Commercial Bank and Eximbank as saying they had reduced dollar loan rates to as low as 5 percent this week from an average of 6-7 percent per year last week.
vietnews, Reuters
|
