As of June 19, 2009 Thailand, Laos and Vietnam will jointly open highway routes for trucks to facilitate lower-cost freight transportation, the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported on March 7.

The three regional neighbours, under the terms of the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) Accord, agreed upon in Vietnam last month, will open a route linking Thailand s northeastern province of Mukdahan with Savannakhet province in Lao, and continuing through to Vietnam s Lao Bao border gate, TNA quoted a senior Thai land transport department official as saying.

The distance between Mukdahan and the Lao Bao border gate is roughly 500 kilometres, and takes around 10.5 hours by automobile.

As per the agreement, about 400 trucks from each country will transport goods along this route.

Stock market muddled by mixed signals The VN-Index on March 6 closed down a soft 0.4 per cent to 245.7 points as investors were confused by messages from global markets.

With US-based giant General Motors facing possible bankruptcy, and the ongoing effort of the Chinese to create economic stability, local investors were both worried and eager, which was reflected through the number of advancers and decliners.

Trading volume stayed at 7.32 million shares, down from 8.43 million on March 5. The amount was equivalent to 124.78 billion VND (7.1 million USD) in turnover. Sacombank had the highest trading volume with 940,290 shares, followed by PetroVietnam Transportation and Sai Gon Securities with 497,010 and 360,490 shares, respectively.

Foreigners were net sellers with 707,290 shares changing hands.

The HASTC-Index on March 6 closed down 0.21 per cent to 84.59 points, with the decliners holding a half of the total 170 listed shares in the Hanoi bourse.

About 4.4 million shares changed hands, generating a turnover of 79.7 billion VND (US$4.6 million). Asia Commercial Bank was the most traded with 1.23 million shares, followed by giant constructor Vinaconex Group and Kim Long Securities.