Vietnamese shares are undervalued and becoming attractive to foreign investors. It’s the good time to buy Vietnamese shares, the local newspaper Vietnamnews reported on October 28, citing Don Lam, CEO of VinaCapital as saying at its 2010 Investor Conference today

The foreign investors in Vietnam’s stock markets tend to be institutional investors while the stock markets are mainly dominated by retail or small-scale investors, accounting for 80% of market trading. The way these groups invest is different. While Vietnamese investors are sitting in the sidelines right now, overseas institutional investors look at Vietnam and see low valuation and great long-term prospects and this is the right time to buy shares. VinaCapital is a long-term investor in Vietnam, and the foreign investors we partner with are also interested in Vietnam’s long-term prospects. Don shared.

Don expected that the country’s gross domestic product(GDP) will reach a very good result of 6.8% this year while its inflation is estimated to stand at 9% for the year.

“Vietnam is making the right investment to improve the quantity and quality of its exports. There is a negative psychology that results from this-people see the currency under pressure. We’d like more investors, both domestic and foreign, to understand that the currency is not as weak as some observers think.” Don added.

Don also shared that VinaCapital does not have the habit of chasing “hot sectors”. The investment the company recommend today are the same as it ‘s interested in the past- the past opportunities in Vietnam relate to the growth of domestic economy and the long-term trend of urbanization and rising middle-class incomes.

The CEO recommended to invest in sectors including residential housing, consumer goods and retail, healthcare, education, financial services-these are all sectors that show solid long-term growth prospects. VinaCapital looks for companies with good management and strong business models in each of these sectors.

Don Lam is CEO of VinaCapital Group, established in 2003 and now Vietnam’s leading investment management group, with$1.8 billion in assets under management. Don has over 15 years business and investment experience in Vietnam.

Source:Right time to buy Vietnamese shares: VinaCapital

– Thu Sep 9, 6:13 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund on Thursday announced it would sell 10 metric tons of gold to Bangladesh, worth around 403 million dollars.

“This transaction is part of the total sales of 403.3 metric tons approved by the executive board,” the IMF said in a statement.

That decision was taken last September and was followed by the sale of 212 metric tons of gold to the Reserve Bank of India, the Bank of Mauritius, and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The Washington-based institution has been selling gold as it seeks to bolster its finances amid the global economic crisis.

IMF members agreed in 2008 that the fund could sell an eighth of its gold assets in order to diversify its financial model so that it no longer relies on lending.

The fund is one of the world’s largest holders of the precious metal.

by Ron Bousso Ron Bousso   – Sat Aug 28, 12:00 pm ET

NEW YORK (AFP) – Wall Street may be in for another rocky week, as traders brace for negative data topped by an expected rise in the US unemployment rate that could dampen economic recovery prospects.

All eyes will turn to the release of the monthly employment data next Friday, with most analysts forecasting non-farm payrolls to fall by 118,000 in August and unemployment to edge up to 9.6 percent from the current 9.5 percent rate.

“The most important number by far is going to be the job numbers on Friday. It is key to the entire economy and we haven’t had very good news lately about that,” said analyst Nicholas Colas of ConvergEx Group.

Unemployment remains the biggest concern of President Barack Obama, who is facing an uphill battle to lift the fortunes of his Democratic Party in November’s mid-term elections.

On Wednesday, analysts expect to see the monthly Institute of Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing index decline to 53.3 percent from 55.5 percent, signaling a further slowdown in manufacturing, a key pillar of the US economy.

Wall Street shares ended the week on a positive note on Friday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke vowed to take aggressive steps to boost the US economy if its outlook worsened.

“Bernanke was the big mover of the market, coming out and saying ‘we’re ready to help the economy’ if needed, but he was a bit more optimistic about the outlook for the economy, boosting stocks,” FTN Financial analyst Lindsey Piegza said.

For the week, however, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.62 percent to 10,150.65 and the broader S&P 500 index dropped 0.66 percent to 1,064.59 as both indexes extended a third consecutive week of losses.

The technology-rich Nasdaq composite index slumped 1.2 percent to 2,153.63 despite a growing bidding war between computer-maker giants Hewlett-Packard and Dell to buy data storage firm 3PAR.

The Fed chief also said prospects for US growth to pick up in 2011 appeared to remain despite the government revising downward its gross domestic product estimate for the April-June period, saying the GDP grew at 1.6 percent, less than half the first quarter’s 3.7 percent growth.

The growth plunge was on the back of a massive trade deficit and weak private inventory investment, signaling a more pronounced slowdown in recovery from recession.

Most recent economic data fell below already modest expectations and economists are reducing their growth forecast for the third quarter with some warning of a “double-dip” recession, when GDP growth falls back to negative after a quarter or two of positive growth.

New home sales plunged this week to their lowest levels in half a century and the pace of orders for goods indicated the manufacturing sector slowed markedly, with business capital spending contracting massively.

Thursday’s report showing a drop in the number of Americans filing for new jobless benefits claims failed to impress traders.

“The market is very uncertain about the trajectory of the economy going into the last half of the year. The data early in the week was very unsettling as far as hoping for further growth,” Colas told AFP.

Despite next week’s expected negative data, analysts do not predict a sharp drop in stock prices, even as Wall Street enters what is traditionally seen as a difficult month for shares.

“The bar is set pretty low given that the data has been weakening for sometime now… It would take some pretty significant disappointment to drive us lower,” said Economy.com analyst Aaron Smith.

By Sonali Paul and Eric Onstad Sonali Paul And Eric Onstad   – Wed Aug 25, 4:51 pm ET

MELBOURNE/LONDON (Reuters) – BHP Billiton, tried to damp expectations it would sweeten its hostile $39 billion offer for Potash Corp even as the world’s biggest miner showed it had the wherewithal to up the ante.

Reporting its richest half-year profit in two years on Wednesday, the Anglo-Australian miner also revealed a hefty balance sheet and annual cash flow of $17.9 billion.

Combined with $45 billion in loans BHP has arranged, the results sent a strong signal that BHP has the financial muscle to raise its $130-a-share offer for Potash Corp, the global fertilizer leader.

But BHP Chief Executive Marius Kloppers sought to discourage the notion that he might enhance a takeover offer that already ranks as the highest of the year.

“I will be as disciplined on this bid as I’ve been on every other endeavor,” the 47-year-old South African said on a conference call with reporters. “The shareholders own the company (BHP), and it’s my job to create more value for them, not to do any one thing at any cost.”

Kloppers, who is trying to clinch his first major deal after three years on the job, would have ask shareholders to approve an offer above $158.50 a share, or $47 billion, because it would exceed 25 percent of BHP’s market capitalization.

NO REASON TO GO HIGHER

Investors have pushed Potash shares 13 percent above the $130-a-share bid, betting that BHP will boost its offer, or a rival bidder will emerge. A Reuters survey indicated Potash shareholders would accept $162 a share.

The stock fell 2.4 percent to $145.50 on Wednesday, the steepest one-day drop since BHP announced its bid.

BHP could probably go up to close to A$200 dollars ($177) a share in its Potash Corp bid, Ric Ronge, portfolio manager at Pengana Capital in Australia, said after the BHP results.

But Paul Galloway, an analyst at Bernstein Research in London, said BHP has no reason to go higher at this point.

“At the moment if BHP raised the bid they would be just bidding against themselves. So really the next move is from Bill Doyle, who claims that he’s got an alternative,” Galloway said, referring to the Potash Corp CEO. “I think BHP will be waiting to see what that alternative actually is.”

The two companies considered big enough to mount rival bids on their own — Vale and Rio Tinto — have faded as prospective white knights. Vale pulled itself out of the running, while analysts think Rio has all it can handle after its ill-timed, $38 billion takeover of Canada’s Alcan.

Analysts say Potash Corp could still foil BHP by selling assets into a joint venture at a price that implies a higher value for the whole company than BHP has offered, with China’s Sinochem as a likely partner.

INTERIM RESULTS

BHP’s said net debt fell 58 percent from the end of last year to $3.3 billion, with net gearing down to a relatively scant 6 percent. That bodes well for a company willing to take on more debt to finance its Potash foray.

But analysts say there is no sense in rushing.

“In the absence of another bidder for those assets, BHP is doing the right thing in the sense it’s basically offered a price…and is waiting for a response,” said Pengana’s Ronge.

Kloppers hinted that a higher offer would have to wait until BHP got regulatory approvals for its takeover plans.

“We’d like to, on the Potash transaction, clear the preconditions so that we’ve got a bid that is capable of being accepted. That’s what you should look forward to as we proceed through the remainder of this calendar year,” he said.

Some shareholders worry about risks BHP will assume if it acquires Potash Corp and expands into a new market. BHP aims to tap an expected boom in demand for potash from farmers trying to boost crop yields to feed countries like China and India.

“The question is not whether BHP can afford the bid. It’s whether there’s a strategic fit,” said an investor who declined to be identified ahead of talking to Kloppers.

Kloppers said he and other executives are due to embark on a four-continent tour to talk to its investors, about half of whom overlap with Potash shareholders in North America.

In the first half, BHP’s profit before one-time items rose to $6.77 billion from $4.59 billion a year earlier, slightly less than the average analyst forecast of about $6.9 billion.

BHP shares in London dipped 2 percent, in line with the UK mining index as metals prices slid.

INSIDER TRADING

BHP’s bumper profits came as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged two Spanish residents, one of them an equities derivatives trader with BHP adviser Banco Santander, with insider trading in Potash shares. The bank later suspended the employee.

The SEC alleged the two made nearly $1.1 million in profits using nonpublic information to trade Potash securities before the bid.

BHP plans to ask a Canadian commission to end Potash’s “poison pill” takeover defense early if the bid appears likely to receive regulatory approval, sources familiar with the matter said.

That would force the Canadian company to work faster as it seeks to line up a white knight to fend off the bid.

Kloppers also sought to allay concerns that he will pull out of Canpotex, the North American potash marketing consortium, if BHP wins Potash Corp. The group, which includes Mosaic Co and Agrium, has helped support global potash prices.

“The message is we will only transform it (Canpotex) if the other shareholders want to transform it,” he said.

Agrium CEO Mike Wilson said BHP would be crazy to leave the marketing consortium. “It’s one of the strongest marketing arms I’ve ever seen, one of the best distribution groups I’ve ever seen,” he told Canada’s BNN business television. “Speaking from an Agrium point of view, we’re going to stay and we think BHP would be crazy to leave it.”

(Additional reporting by Julie Crust, Rachelle Younglai and Sonya Dowsett; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Erica Billingham and Michael Shields)