PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - May 18
HANOI, May 18 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories.
FINANCIAL NEWS:
TUOI TRE
-- Shares in several real estate companies have rallied by more than 30 percent since the end of last month, outpacing the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange .VNI index which has risen 24 percent.
THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
-- State oil group Petrovietnam's construction firm PVC said it has won shareholder approval to list at the Hanoi Securities Trading Center .HASTCI in the third quarter of this year.
DAU TU CHUNG KHOAN
-- The Vietnam Rubber Group said it has invested 597 billion dong ($33.6 million) in the financial sector and acquired controlling stakes of 51 percent in five hydro-power plants worth a combined 19.96 trillion dong.
-- Closed-end fund Manulife Progressive MAFPF1.HM said its net assets value has grown 23 percent so far this year to 116.63 billion dong ($6.56 million).
-- The State Securities Commission said only 964 public firms of some 4,000 privatised companies nationwide have registered to disclose information with the commission.
DAU TU
-- Interest rates on dong deposits have risen to as high as 10 percent as banks try to draw funds to meet soaring demand for dong loans.
ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:
HANOI MOI
-- Cholera has now spread to nine provinces in Vietnam, all in the northern region, including the capital Hanoi, the Health Ministry said.
LAO DONG
-- On Sunday, Vietnamese security forces expelled an Australian of Vietnamese origin they said was member of a "terrorist" organisation, who had arrived in April and conducted "terrorist plots".
-- Foreign tourists arriving in Vietnam on tours organised under the promotional programme "Vietnam Impression" from May 15 to the end of September will be exempted from entry visas, the government said.
TUOI TRE
-- Lightning killed at least six people and injured 17 others in the central province of Nghe An last week, officials said.
DAU TU
-- Investors and home buyers in Hanoi showed more interest in land properties as most condominium projects were overpriced, realtors said. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)
