VietNamNet Bridge - Marc Farber, the internationally famous investor, has advised securities investors to forget about China and go to Vietnam instead.

Foreign newswires quoted the famously bearish investor as saying that he wouldn’t touch Chinese stocks after they plunged so dramatically, and that he would rather invest in Vietnam’s or Hong Kong’s equities.

“Now I don’t think Chinese stocks are attractive and I would just stand aside,” he said in an interview with CNBC.

He thinks Vietnam is the one country that "stands out in Asia", with its strong economic performance and reasonably priced stocks. 

Securities companies have predicted brighter prospects for the Vietnamese stocks thanks to good economic performance and the new decree on lifting the foreign ownership ratio in Vietnamese enterprises in unconditional businesses to 100 percent.

They noted that while the VN Index fluctuates, the bullish trend is obvious. The VN Index increased by 4.63 points, or 0.73 percent on July 14, to 638.69 points, while the HN Index of the Hanoi bourse increased slightly by 0.16 points, or 0.18 percent to 88.74 points, according to ndh.vn.

The stock indexes are on the rise amid the eased anxiety about the Greek debt crisis as the country has reached a bailout agreement with the debtors.

However, analysts believe that investors are optimistic mostly because of the good news brought by the new decree on foreign ownership ratio in Vietnamese businesses.

Investors are more optimistic after the State Securities Commission (SSC) said it would urge businesses to lift the foreign ownership ratios in their companies’ chapters, while there is no need to wait for the circulars to guide the implementation of the new decree.

Analysts have noted that insurance companies’ shares have been hunted by investors because insurance will be one of the business fields to get big benefits from the new decree.

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said at an investment promotion conference in the US recently that the foreign ownership ratio in insurance companies will be up to 100 percent.

Ndh.vn reported that BVH, an insurance blue chip, witnessed a 5.6 percent increase in price on July 14 to VND65,500 per share. The other insurance shares including BMI, BIC and PVI also increased sharply to ceiling levels.

A local newspaper quoted Nguyen Hong Khanh, an investor, as saying that the new regulation on foreign ownership ratio allows him to make a profit equal to 2/3 of his total yearly income, if he sells the shares he is holding.

International press has also given optimistic predictions about the Vietnamese stocks as a result of the new decree. The Wall Street Journal believes that billions of dollars of capital will be poured into Vietnam relatively soon.

Thanh Lich