Vietnamese stock market

Stock advanced steadily on Vietnam' s national stock market during the last week of the year as investors responded positively to economic movements. The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) reported five straight ups, surpassing the resistance mark of 400 points. The central bank earlier on Dec. 24 cut a series of key interest rates, including deposit interest rate, lending rate, refinance and discount rate by 1 percent. The monthly consumer price index for December rose by just 0.27 percent over November, making the annual figure remain in single digit at 9.21 percent. In addition, the General Statistics Office (GSO) released the country's 2012's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate at 5.03 percent compared to last year. Although lower than last year's GDP, it is still a good result amid the current economic difficulties, said the GSO. The government recently committed to launching a bailout package for the dismal real estate market and injecting money to deal with bad debts in the banking system. The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) went up 3.76 points, or 0.92 percent to close at 413.73 points on Friday. During the week, VN-Index gained 16.95 point or 4.27 percent against last Friday's close. It experienced five straight ups, posting the highest level of 413.73 points on Friday and the lowest level of 399.71 points on Monday.Last week VN-Index ranged from 393.39 points to 399.68 points. A total of 84.321 million shares worth 1.157 trillion VND (55. 51 million U.S. dollars) changed hands at the HoSE on Friday, an increase of 6.12 percent in volume and a decrease of 13.31 percent in value against Thursday. VN-30 index, the new benchmark index for the HoSE which has been applied since Feb. 6, 2012 and tracks the 30 leading shares by both market capitalization and liquidity, closed at 485.38 points on Friday, up 4.53 points, or 0.94 percent against the previous trading day. A total of 42.194 million shares were traded, worth 716.6 billion VND (34.36 million U.S. dollars). On the country's northern bourse, Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX- Index concluded at 57.09 points, up 0.94 points, or 1.67 percent on Friday against the previous trading day's closing session. Compared to the first trading day of the year, when VN-Index posted 350 points and HNX-Index at 56.79 points, the HoSE gained 63.73 points while the Hanoi bourse gained 0.3 points.