VinaWealth Fund Management Company JSC has launched the VinaWealth Equity Opportunity Fund (VEOF), under the IPO granted by the Vietnam State Securities Commission on March 14.

The VEOF is VinaWealth's second open-ended fund and is focused on equities listed on Vietnam's growing stock market.

It is a type of managed mutual fund that is popular in other markets. A mutual fund pools money from many investors into a basket of different instruments, which may include stocks, bonds, valuable papers, and other assets.

The fund's scale allows it to diversify the portfolio of assets. This increases the likelihood of generating higher returns while mitigating risks.

VEOF is managed by a team and support from the VinaCapital Group, Vietnam's leading asset management firm with over 1.5 billion USD in assets under management as of December 31, 2013.

According to Andy Ho, chief investment officer of VinaCapital Group and board member of VinaWealth, "now is a good time to launch an open-ended equities fund. In 2013, the Vietnam stock market gained 22 percent, the highest gain among Southeast Asian markets."

"According to our analysis, Vietnam's stock market is likely to maintain growth in 2014, based on positive macro-economic indicators such as export growth, increased foreign direct investment (FDI), controlled inflation, a stable exchange rate and lower interest rates, which are stimulating business activity and overall demand.

"Furthermore, foreign investors continue to show interest in Vietnam's market and were particularly active in investing into Vietnam's stock market during the first quarter of 2014. VEOF will provide both domestic and foreign investors with the opportunity to participate in the Vietnam stock market and enjoy returns in 2014 and the years to come," he said.-VNA