Stock market capitalisation reached 620 trillion VND (33 billion USD) at the end of last year, equaling nearly 38 percent of GDP, announced State Securities Commission vice chairman Nguyen Doan Hung at a conference in Hanoi on Jan. 22.

The value of foreign investors’ portfolios also increased by 1.5 billion USD this year, to a total of 6.6 billion USD at the end of the year, Hung said.

The number of companies listed on the stock market grew to a total of 453, a year-on-year increase of 30 percent, while the number of investor accounts rose by 50 percent to 793,000.

However, Hung said, the market was heavily imp[acted by the global economic crisis, with the VN-Index dropping 25 percent in the first three months of last year and trading volume falling by an even more precipitous 60 percent during the period.

In the first quarter, foreign investors also withdrew 530 million USD worth of capital from the market.

However, the stock benefited from the Government’s stimulus policies and began a strong rebound in the second quarter, Hung said. The VN-Index rose 150 percent from a low of 235 points in February to a high for the year of 624 in October.

The Index fell back to a year-end close of 494 points, a level nearly 60 percent higher than back at the beginning of 2009.

Average daily trading value for the year on both exchanges averaged 3 trillion VND (159.6 million USD), four times higher than the previous year’s average.

Hung told the conference that the State Securities Commission had a specific development plan for the stock market that would include tighter State management and supervision of intermediary institutions and foreign representative offices.

The commission would also accelerate completion of the legal framework governing the market, particularly regulations on over-the-counter trading and development other equity markets such the unlisted public companies market (UPCoM) and bond market.

New brokerage services such as collateralised lending, margin trading, and allowing transactions within a shorter clearance time, would soon take effect in a further effort to improve market liquidity, Hung said./.