Stock Market Signals Instable Growth

At the conference discussing implementation of works of the State Securities Commission (SSC) in 2007, Mr Vu Bang, Chairman of SSC, said the Vietnamese stock market had 193 listed firms with a total market capitalisation value of VND221,165 billion (US$14 billion), accounting for 22.7 per cent of the country’s GDP as of December 31, 2006. The market capitalisation exceeded even the target of 10-15 per cent set for the year 2010.

 

The Vietnamese stock market already had 100,000 transaction accounts, a 30-fold rise against the first year. Foreign investors keep 1,700 accounts and hold 25-30 per cent of the listed stocks. However, Mr. Bang also admitted that the investment risk on the over-the-counter (OTC) market is very high because transactions are based mainly on rumours and inaccurate information. Besides, the market supervision is not very strong. Mr Vu Van Ninh, Minister of Finance, said investors are flocking into buying shares without knowledge of listed companies’ revenues and profits. This is a problem.
L.A