Local investors were out of sync with the rest of Asia yesterday when the index fell despite increased volumes. The opening LSX session saw the index fall to 996.96 and after hitting 1013.92 it closed down 18.30 points (1.80pct) at 995.62. Today if anything should see both EDL-Gen and BCEL recover.

BCEL bank, the largest commercial bank in Laos, has granted a large number of loans to businesses over the first quarter of this year, giving a major boost to national economic development.

Price of gold in Vietnam surged to VND41.6 million a tael (1.2 ounces) on May 18 as global price unexpectedly jumped by more than 2 per cent from a ten-month low at the trading session in New York last night.

The investors, who believed that resort real estate, unlike other property market segments, would never fall into decay, have changed their thoughts and tried to run away from the market.

Local producers still have to borrow bank loans at interest rates of up to 20 percent per annum though the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) announced to cap lending interest rates at 15 percent p.a., the local newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong (“Labourer”) reported.

The statistics office has predicted that the trade deficit in May would rise sharply to US$700 million.

The figures released by taxation bodies, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Small and Medium Enterprises’ Association and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), all show that a lot of businesses are sinking.