Auction for gold bullion to continue on April 25

Hanoi: Another bidding session for 16,800 taels of gold bullion will be held on April 25, the State Bank of Vietnam said in a statement.

The bank said the auctions aim at ensuring stable, transparent, and effective operation of the domestic market.

Bidders need to deposit 10% of their purchase value. Each is allowed to place order for at least 1,400 taels and at most 2,000 taels.

State-owned gold producer and distributor Saigon Jewelry Company and Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) bought 3,400 taels out of the16,800 offered by the central bank during the auction on April 23. The gold was purchased for 81.33 million VND (3,195 USD) per tael at the highest, and 81.32 million VND at the lowest, against the base price of 81.30 million VND.

Economists said bidders were prudent at the auction on April 23, with only two among the 11 participants winning bids, adding psychological factor has affected the domestic demand for gold in recent time.

SJC gold prices rebounded following the auction, at 82.3 millio
n for buyers and 84.3 million for sellers, up 1.3 million and 1 million VND per tael, respectively, at 13:14 on April 24.

Meanwhile, Doji gold prices rose 2 million VND and 1.5 million VND to 82 million VND for buyers and 84 million VND for sellers./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

BAAC draws prizes worth 208 million baht


Bangkok, BAAC holds 17,239 prizes for the Pay Dee Mee Chok project, worth 208 million baht, giving luck and building morale in repaying debts to farmers. Distributed to both pickup trucks Motorcycle and Gift voucher

Mr. Sunan Phongprayoon, Assistant Manager of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), presided over the 2nd Regional Pay Dee Meechok Award Ceremony to encourage and motivate customers to change their payment behavior. debt Leading to a sustainable solution to the household debt problem. According to government and BoT policy, with customers repaying their debts during January – March 2024, 1.63 million will be eligible to win a chance to win a total of 17,239 prizes.

Consisting of Toyota Hilux Revo Z edition pickup trucks, 21 prizes, Yamaha Finn UBS version 2023 motorcycles, 45 prizes, and BAAC gift vouchers valued at 100,000 baht, 63 prizes, valued at 30,000 baht, 1,170 prizes, valued at 10,000 baht, 6,390 prizes, and valued at 5,000 baht. 9,550 awards worth 208 million b
aht. Every award from BAAC aims to support in promoting careers. Bringing good fortune to reduce debt burden and building financial immunity

For example, pickup trucks are used to transport agricultural products, BAAC gift vouchers are used to pay off BAAC loans, both for repaying debts of oneself or those in the family. Used to purchase various BAAC products or services, such as savings lottery, digital lottery, life support deposit products. Buy products in A-Shop

BAAC will announce the names of lucky winners via the BAAC Mobile application, www.baac.or.th website and post the announcement at BAAC branches nationwide within 15 days after the prize draw. Customers who participate in the prize draw in each round will receive only 1 prize of the highest value and can contact to confirm their rights at the BAAC branch that entered into the loan contract. By bringing your ID card, house registration along with 1 copy to confirm within business days and hours within 90 days after the names are announced.

There
fore, we invite customers to join us in changing behavior and maintaining discipline in repaying debts. Plus get a chance to win with the Pay Dee Mee Chok project. With interest paid for every 1,000 baht, you will get 1 – 3 rights to win prizes. The faster you pay, the more rights you get. which such rights It will be drawn as a regional prize every quarter, a total of 3 times, and a national grand prize draw once, with a total prize value of over 479 million baht. In the next lucky draw. The prize draw is scheduled for July 24, 2024.

Source: Thai News Agency

Businesses concerned about rising exchange rate pressure

Hanoi: Though the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has announced it is selling the US dollar to intervene in the USD/VND exchange rate since April 19, the greenback price has remained high, which has been directly affecting many domestic enterprises.

The USD/VND exchange rate listed at VietinBank and BIDV on April 23 was at 25,180 VND and 25,485 VND per USD dollar for buying and selling, an increase of 20 VND compared to the previous session.

Vietcombank’s rate also stood high at 25,145 VND and 25,485 VND per dollar for buying and selling.

This was the sixth session that the selling price of the dollar at banks has consecutively broken its peak, moving closer to the threshold of 26,000 VND per dollar.

On the unofficial market, the dollar price on April 24 also increased by 90 VND per dollar for buying and 110 VND per dollar for selling compared to last week to reach 25,770 VND and 25,870 VND per dollar for buying and selling, respectively.

In the context of the sharp appreciation of the dollar, the SBV on Apr
il 19 announced it was selling the greenback to banks with negative foreign currency status at the price of 25,450 VND per dollar, 23 VND per dollar lower than the SBV’s cap, to influence the exchange rate. This move is expected to help cool down the domestic exchange rate but it is continuing to accelerate due to the high level of the dollar in the international market.

The sharp increase in the dollar price has caused difficulties to many domestic companies.

A seafood import company in Hanoi, which declined to be named, calculated that for each 100,000 USD order paid to a partner, it would have to spend an additional 100-150 million VND.

Nguyen Dang Hien, General Director of Tan Quang Minh Company, said the beverage manufacturing industry is facing many difficulties, including increased exchange rates.

According to Hien, his company currently has to import some types of orange juice, some flavours and plastic beads from other countries and most have to be paid in the dollar, which has increased producti
on costs by 4-5%. However, product selling prices have not increased for many months due to weak purchasing power.

To limit damage from the rising exchange rate, the Tan Quang Minh Company is trying to promote the search for domestic raw material sources to replace imports, and increase exports to markets paying in the dollar, Hien said.

Director of SKD Vietnam Mechanical Company Nguyen Van Ket said companies’ plans will not be affected if the Vietnamese dong depreciates by some 2-3% this year as previously forecast. However, the dong has so far strengthened by nearly 5%, while raw material prices, input and international transportation costs remain high due to rising gasoline price, which cause more difficulties for businesses.

In the context of the rising exchange rate, experts recommend that importing businesses need to pay attention to exchange rate risk prevention tools, and carefully consider the terms in foreign currency loan contracts.

Besides, it is also necessary to maximise domestic resources a
nd find alternative domestic partners to gradually reduce dependence on import markets to lower costs and limit risks when the world market fluctuates.

In addition, businesses should also choose banks with good trade support capabilities, and consider using derivative financial instruments and swap contracts, appropriately and in accordance with regulations, to reduce risks when exporting in the context of the current exchange rate fluctuations./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

SET invites entrepreneurs to join the “New S Curve to Capital Market” project


Bangkok, SET invites entrepreneurs in target industries to prepare to enter the capital market and learn through the ‘New S Curve to Capital Market Project’ July-Oct. 2024.

Lifefincorp Company Limited, under the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) group, together with the Center of Excellence in Life Sciences (Public Organization) (TCELS) National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) (NIA) and KPMG Thailand invite entrepreneurs in target industries including Life Science, High Technology, and High Growth to join the ‘New S Curve to Capital Market Project’ to learn through 4 courses, including Technical courses. Skills for Life Science, Business Innovation and Growth course, Accelerating New S Curve Business Success with Right Roadmap course and Unlock Your Business to Capital Market course through Workshop, Networking and One-on-One Coaching throughout 4 months (July-Oct. 2024), which was honored by expert speakers to share knowledge and techniques in business operations. Management skills Preparation for f
undraising for growth

Interested entrepreneurs Study details and apply to join the ‘New S Curve to Capital Market Project’ from today – 10 May 2024 at https://www.live-platforms.com/th/newscurve2024/ .

Source: Thai News Agency

SBV takes more actions to stabilise foreign exchange rates

Hanoi: The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on April 23 took some moves like issuing treasury bills (T-bills), further employing T-bills as an open market operation (OMO), and stipulating liquidity and interest rates in the inter-bank market in the face of surging USD/VND exchange rates.

The central bank lent nearly 36 trillion VND (1.4 billion USD) for a 14-day term to nine members via the OMO channel. The bid-winning interest rate rose to 4.25% per year from 4% per year as recorded recently.

The seven-day loan, issued on April 16 via the OMO channel, also matured on April 23 with total value approximating 12 trillion VND.

The bank also continued to issue 2.15 trillion VND worth of 28-day T-bills with an interest rate of 3.73%. Two members won the bidding.

Besides, the T-bills issued on March 26 also became mature on April 23, enabling the central bank to inject 3.7 trillion VND back to the market.

Experts said the maintenance of inviting bids for T-bills will help the SBV form a steady zone of floor prices
for inter-bank interest rates via bid-winning rates. The concurrent use of T-bills and OMO aims to serve the twin targets of guaranteeing liquidity for the banking system to maintain low interest rates in the market and easing pressure to narrow the USD/VND exchange rate differences in the inter-bank market.

Talking to the press, Tran Duc Anh, Director for macro-economy and market strategy at the KB Securities Vietnam JSC, held that the SBV has carried out many measures for stabilising exchange rates like attracting money flows via T-bills in the open market.

However, such moves are still not strong enough to stabilise foreign exchange rates as inter-bank interest rates keep growing. Therefore, the bank may take stronger interventions in the time ahead, he opined.

SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu affirmed that exchange rates form a critical factor in macro-economic governance. They affect not only the value of the Vietnamese dong or people’s purchasing demand but also policies, macro-economic stability, inf
lation control, market psychology, and investors’ trust.

Therefore, the SBV always views stipulating exchange rates as one of the extremely important tasks, he said, noting that it will continue flexible governance to ensure exchange rates changes in line with the common trend and the foreign currency balance is guaranteed for legal demand in the market.

On April 23, the central bank set the daily reference exchange rate at 24,275 VND per USD, up 3 VND from the previous day./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

NACC finds evidence of “former PTTEP big boss” accepting bribes for Rolls-Royce Confiscation of property


Bangkok, The NACC has resolved to determine the basis of the crime. There is reason to suspect that the former PTTEP board member and the Rolls-Royce Energy System group have the right to enter into a contract with PTTEP to purchase “Arthit” platform equipment in 2004. -2008 and confiscated the property of “Phaophadet Worabutr”, former deputy general manager. It was discovered that he had received a bribe worth approximately 10 million baht.

Mr. Niwatchai Kasemmongkol, Secretary-General of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), as spokesperson for the NACC, announced that the NACC has resolved to determine the basis of the offense. In the case where there is reasonable cause to suspect that Mr. Chitphong, a director of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited or PTTEP, in his capacity as the chairman of the ad hoc subcommittee, and his associates facilitated the Rolls-Royce N Company. Nergy System has the right to enter into a contract with PTTEP to purchase Feed Gas Turbine Compressor
equipment for the central production platform of Project PTT (Project PTT Arthit).

The said case is due to The U.S. Department of Justice has investigated bribe payments made by Rolls-Royce plc and its subsidiaries. to government officials in many countries and in making an agreement to delay the lawsuit This includes the implementation of PTTEP’s Sunday project, for which Rolls-Royce hired an intermediary. and pay a portion of the commission It was a bribe to PTTEP officials in order to have the right to enter into the contract for the said project. The NACC therefore raised reasonable grounds to investigate. and found that during the year 2004-2008 PTTEP has built a production platform in the middle of the Arthit project. Located in the Gulf of Thailand and an air compressor powered by a gas turbine engine is provided. For use in feeding gas from the source into the production process of 2 machines, budget amount 27,000,000 US dollars or approximately 1,000 million baht. The PTTEP Board of Directors resolv
ed to assign an ad hoc sub-committee consisting of Mr. Chitphong, Mr. Chulasingh and Mr. Anucha are the authorized persons in giving approval.

In the procurement process, Mr. Phaophadet Worabutr, when he was the Deputy General Manager of Offshore Area (TOA), hastened to issue invitation letters to companies that will participate in the bidding, including Rolls-Royce Company, before The Procurement Committee of PTTEP Company gave its approval. In addition, in considering and approving the order of the ad hoc sub-committee. The decision was made to approve in principle the order. With comments to prepare price comparison figures that are most beneficial to the company. proposed the meeting to consider again, but Mr. Marut, President and Secretary of PTTEP, rushed to report to the Board of Directors’ meeting that the ad hoc sub-committee unanimously approved the purchase of Feed Gas Turbine Compressor from the company. Rolls-Royce, even though the ad hoc sub-committee only approved in principle the order. Inclu
ding Mr. Chitphong, Mr. Chulasingh and Mr. Anucha, who were members of the ad hoc subcommittee and were present at the said meeting, they did not object or explain the details of the resolution of the ad hoc subcommittee in any way.

The situation therefore aims to prevent fair price competition. To facilitate Rolls-Royce Company to have the right to enter into a contract with PTTEP Company to order 2 Feed Gas Turbine Compressors with a total procurement value of 24,663,303 US dollars (approximately 900 million baht).

By Mr. Phao Phadet receive benefits In return from Rolls-Royce, the commission was paid into a bank account in Singapore. and later transferred to Mr. Paophadet’s close people, a total of 300,543 US dollars, or approximately 10 million baht, which is the receipt of assets that were not legally appropriate. Caused damage to PTTEP. Therefore, the NACC considered and resolved that the actions of Mr. Chitphong, Mr. Anucha and Mr. Marut had criminal grounds according to the Act. Act on offenses of e
mployees in organizations or government agencies, 1959, section 8 and section 11, and the Act on offenses related to bidding for government agencies, 1999, section 12 and acts of Mr. Marut There is grounds for serious disciplinary misconduct.

As for the actions of Mr. Paophadet Worabutr, they have criminal grounds according to the Act on Offenses of Employees in Government Organizations or Agencies 1959, Section 6, Section 8 and Section 11 of the Act. For offenses related to bidding for government agencies, 1999, Section 5 and Section 12, Anti-Money Laundering Act 1999, Section 5 (1) and (2), together with Section 60 and the Act. Concerning the Prevention and Suppression of Corruption, 1999, Section 103 includes Section 122 and contains grounds for serious disciplinary offenses.

while the actions of the other accused From the investigation, there were no facts and evidence that could be heard to show that the alleged offense had been committed. The accusation is baseless. Let the charges be dropped. As for
Mr. Chulasingh Wasantasingh, he has already died. The right to bring a criminal case will be suspended, so the case will be removed from the registry.

by committee NACC to submit report Proceedings of the inquiry documentary evidence electronic copy and the decision will be sent to the Attorney General To prosecute criminal cases and submit reports and investigation documents documentary evidence and decision to the commander to take disciplinary action According to the said offense according to the Prevention Act. and suppressing corruption 2018, Section 91 (1) (2) and Section 98, as the case may be.

Please notify the Attorney General. Make a request to the court which has jurisdiction to consider the case. Confiscation of bribe assets totaling 300,543 US dollars in accordance with the Act on Prevention and Suppression of Corruption B.E. 2018, Section 83 and Section 84, together with Section 93.

Source: Thai News Agency

TERA opens trading on the first day above reservation by 122.8%.


SET, TERA shares opened for trading on the first day above reserve at 3.90 baht, an increase of 2.15 baht, accounting for 122.8% from the IPO price of 1.75 baht.

Mr. Praphan Charoenprawat, Manager of the Market for Alternative Investment (mai), and Mr. Surasit Kew Prasopsak Chief Executive Officer of Terabyte Plus Public Company Limited attended the trading opening ceremony. First day of securities on the stock exchange in the MAI securities market of Terabyte Plus i Public Company Limited under the technology group Using the trading abbreviation “TERA” today (April 24), the first day of trading opened at a price of 3.90 baht, an increase of 2.15 baht, representing 122.8% from the IPO price of 1.75 baht.

TERA is a subsidiary of Next Point Public Company Limited (NEX). There are 2 100% invested companies, namely Cluster Systems Company Limited and Skyfrog Company Limited. The group operates as a designer. Install and distribute IT equipment and providing services regarding large-scale, integrated informatio
n and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure systems.

The IPO price is 1.75 baht, representing a fund-raising value of 157.50 million baht. The security value at the IPO price is 420 million baht,

representing a price-to-net-earnings-per-share ratio (P/E ratio) of approximately 14.50 times. The money raised from this fund-raising will Used to invest in Cloud systems and invest in related businesses that have potential. To support the growth of the company and use it as working capital within the business.

Source: Thai News Agency

GPSC joins hands with Seaborg to study and develop SMR technology.


Bangkok, GPSC joins hands with Seaborg from Denmark to study opportunities for developing clean energy with SMR technology. It is expected to study the feasibility within 4 years.

Mr. Worawat Pittayasiri, Chief Executive Officer and President of Global Power Synergy Public Company Limited or GPSC, the innovation leader in the electricity business of PTT Group, revealed that GPSC has signed a cooperation agreement with Seaborg Technologies Company. ApS, developer of SMR (Small Modular Reactor) technology, Denmark. To study the feasibility of developing SMR power plant technology, which is a technology that is highly safe. Does not release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere Therefore, it is an important alternative for producing additional clean energy from renewable energy sources in Thailand. which will answer the need for environmentally friendly electricity production The study will take approximately 4 years (between 2024-2027).

For this cooperation Both sides will jointly study the possibility. Covers
technology, safety, environment, law, risk factors, marketing and business development. including guidelines for infrastructure development and the appropriateness of the location and size of the electricity generating unit, approximately 200-800 megawatts, along with learning and exchange technological knowledge with each other To prepare both organizations for implementing the SMR power generation unit project in Thailand along with creating understanding with all sectors. Both government agencies Regulatory unit including the social sector and the public to build confidence and understanding of effective management systems

It is very important to study the feasibility of SMR technology. In addition to studying the feasibility of hydrogen technology (Hydrogen) and carbon dioxide capture technology (Carbon Capture and Storage – CCS) that GPSC is already conducting.

Source: Thai News Agency