Foreign investors still pin a high hope on Vietnam’s equities market beside the keen interest in the country’s investment environment at a time when most stock markets worldwide are faring poorly, according to a conference in HCM City late April.
The third annual Alternative Investment Vietnam 2009 organized by Singapore’s International Quality & Productivity Center, which will wrap up in HCM City today, attracted the participation of a large number of local and international fund managers.
Foreign investors urged the local government to speed up the privatization and listings of big state-owned enterprises (SOEs) despite the gloomy outlook to create more commodities for the stock markets and increase the market liquidity.
Leaders of fund management companies said this is a good time to invest in Vietnamese equities but it is difficult to raise fund for investment. “Foreign indirect investment into the country will rise gradually, but not strong as in 2006 and 2007”, they noted.
While being keen on joining the local stock markets, foreign investors urged the Vietnamese government to get tough on irregularities to ensure the rule of the law and better protect the interests of equities investors, they said at the conference.
Local authorities were also called to make efforts to improve transparency and governance on local bourses.
Nguyen Hoai Thu, investment director of Vietnam Asset Management Ltd., said the information disclosure in Vietnam is inadequate although many firms wanted to sell shares, causing difficulties for investors to make investment decisions.
Jin Wook Soh, chief representative of Mirae Asset MAPS Investments in Vietnam, said the market needs higher standard, transparency, and stronger legal framework to develop and attract foreign players.
The State Securities Commission said the local stock market capitalization as of late 2008 was VND225.9 trillion (US$13.3 billion), accounting for 18 per cent of the country’s GDP, a sharp fall from 40 per cent in 2007. (Saigon Economic Times, Youth)
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