The SBV on Wednesday announced plans to conduct a 182-day foreign exchange swap (FX Swap) operation on Friday, November 6, with a maximum size of $2 billion.

Under the arrangement, the central bank will buy U.S. dollars at a spot exchange rate of VND24,399 per dollar and sell them back at a forward rate of VND24,704 per dollar. The transaction value date is expected to be November 9, 2026, with maturity scheduled for May 10, 2027.

Eligible participants include credit institutions and foreign bank branches with outstanding medium- and long-term foreign loans or international bonds carrying a remaining maturity of at least 12 months. Each bank may register for up to 80% of the operation's total size, subject to the limit of its eligible outstanding foreign currency debt.

Through the operation, eligible banks can temporarily convert their U.S. dollar holdings into Vietnamese dong to supplement liquidity. The maximum amount of VND liquidity potentially injected into the system is estimated at VND48,798 billion ($1.9 billion).

Notably, the latest FX swap operation has a significantly longer maturity than previous interventions. According to brokerage VPS Securities JSC, the SBV has conducted several FX swap operations since the beginning of 2026, typically with maturities ranging from three to 21 days and maximum sizes of $1 billion to $2 billion.

In September alone, the central bank conducted two FX swap operations: a $2 billion facility with a seven-day maturity on September 21 and a $1 billion facility with a three-day maturity on September 28.

Extending the maturity to 182 days therefore marks a notable shift in the SBV's approach to liquidity management.

According to a flash report released on Wednesday, VPS said the SBV was proactively supporting VND liquidity amid rising funding demand across the banking system. With a maximum size of $2 billion, the FX swap operation could help ease liquidity pressures and cool interbank interest rates.

More importantly, the extension of the swap maturity to 182 days would allow banks to maintain more stable funding sources over a longer period, reducing the need to repeatedly roll over funding and limiting the risk of short-term liquidity shortages.

As pressure on the interbank funding market eases, banks may also have less need to compete aggressively for deposits from households and businesses, potentially curbing upward pressure on deposit rates in the domestic deposit market, known as Market 1.

However, VPS cautioned that the exchange rate spread of VND305 per dollar, equivalent to approximately 2.51% per year, does not fully reflect the operation's overall funding costs, as these also depend on the initial cost of raising U.S. dollar funding.

Consequently, the benefits for funding costs and net interest margins (NIM) are likely to vary among banks rather than translate into uniform improvements across the sector.

Additional tailwinds for the stock market

The SBV's move to strengthen liquidity support is also expected to have positive implications for the stock market. According to VPS, additional liquidity in the banking system and expectations of lower interbank interest rates could improve investor sentiment, ease concerns over rising borrowing costs, and support equity valuations.

Sectors particularly sensitive to interest rate movements, including securities, real estate and banking, could stand to benefit.

A stable interest rate environment helps ease companies' funding cost pressures while limiting the relative attractiveness of fixed-income investment products compared with equities.

For securities firms, improved market liquidity could support brokerage activities, margin lending and proprietary trading. Real estate companies, meanwhile, could benefit if interest rate pressures remain under control, helping reduce financing costs and improve homebuyers' access to credit.

For banks, the additional liquidity could ease funding balance pressures and reduce competition for deposits. However, the extent of the benefits will depend on each institution's funding structure, its ability to participate in the FX swap operation and its actual cost of capital.

Nevertheless, VPS noted that the impact of the FX swap operation on the stock market would be largely indirect. Its actual influence on overall interest rates will depend on the volume of transactions conducted, the cost of raising U.S. dollar funding and the SBV's liquidity management through other instruments.

The latest FX swap operation should also be viewed primarily as a targeted liquidity management measure rather than a signal that the central bank is shifting towards broad-based monetary easing.

As the SBV is obliged to sell the U.S. dollars back when the contracts mature in May 2027, the VND liquidity injected into the banking system will also be withdrawn unless the transactions are extended or replaced by other liquidity management instruments.

Overall, the central bank's stronger liquidity support could provide an additional tailwind for the stock market in the short term, particularly as investor sentiment shows signs of improvement.

However, for the VN-Index's recovery to become sustainable, the market will still need confirmation from the ability to maintain trading liquidity, the breadth of capital inflows and actual developments in interest rates in the coming period.

VN-Index rebounds nearly 2%, securities stocks lead gains

On the same day news emerged about the SBV's planned liquidity support, Vietnam's stock market staged a notable recovery on Wednesday. The VN-Index closed up 33.4 points, or 1.97%, at 1,733.02 points. The gain marked the benchmark's first advance after four consecutive losing sessions, allowing it to quickly reclaim the 1,700-point threshold breached in the previous session.

The recovery was broad-based and accompanied by a significant improvement in market liquidity. Trading volume on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) reached approximately 908.59 million shares, with a total transaction value of VND17,955 billion ($699.11 million), up 45.5% and nearly 38.8%, respectively, from the previous session.

Securities stocks were particularly prominent, attracting strong investor inflows, with several major stocks posting sharp gains. VCK rose 6.43%, TCX gained 6.98%, VND advanced 6.90%, VCI climbed 6.86%, VIX added 6.78% and SSI increased 6.53%. On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), MBS and SHS also surged by more than 7%.

Gains also spread to banking and real estate stocks. VPB rose 4.48%, CTG gained 3.33% and VCB advanced 2.43%. In the real estate sector, VHM climbed 2.10%, DXG jumped 6.57% and TCH surged 6.69%.

The market performance pointed to a significant improvement in buying demand and investor sentiment following a series of correction sessions. Financial and real estate stocks, which are particularly sensitive to interest rate movements, were also among the best-performing sectors.