Stock market capitalization has reached VND2,260 trillion ($101 billion), equal to 50.3 per cent of Vietnam’s GDP, a rise of 16 per cent since the end of 2016 and the highest level since the market began operations, Mr. Vu Bang, Chairman of the State Securities Commission (SSC), told a press conference in Hanoi last week.

On March 6, the VN-Index stood at 716.29 points, its highest level for ten years and 7.7 per cent higher than at the end of 2016. 

The HNX-Index stood at 86.55 points, up 8 per cent.

Market liquidity has improved, he went on, with an average transaction value of VND7.365 trillion ($324 million) each session, up 49 per cent against the same period last year and 6.6 per cent higher than the average in 2016, adding that in the first two months of 2017, capital mobilization was VND40.7 trillion ($1.8 billion), a year-on-year fall of 27 per cent, while capital mobilization in February increased 79 per cent against January.

Mr. Bang also noted that after some investment funds withdrew capital from Vietnam in the closing months of 2016 due to expectations of the US Fed raising interest rate and the US dollar gaining value, since early this year, foreign investors have bought VND1.545 trillion ($69 million) worth of shares and fund certificates and VND5.960 trillion ($267 million) worth of bonds.

In the first month of 2017, the total value of foreign investors’ portfolios stood at a record $18.4 billion, he added.

VN Economic Times