The scene of the press conference. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The stock market capitalization reached 2,260 trillion VND (101 billion USD), equal to 50.3 percent of the national GDP, up 16 percent from the end of 2016 and is the highest-ever level since the market began operation.
Vu Bang, Chairman of the State Securities Commission, released the information at a news conference on March 9.
As of March 6, the VN Index stood at 716.29 points, the highest level in the past 10 years and up 7.7 percent from the end of 2016. Meanwhile, the HNX Index was at 86.55 points, an increase of 8 percent.
At the end of February, a total of 708 stocks and fund certificates were listed on the two stock exchanges and 485 stocks were traded on the UPCoM market with the total listed value reaching nearly 778 trillion VND (35 billion USD), up 7 percent from the end of 2016.
The market liquidation has improved with the average transaction value of 7.365 trillion VND each session, up 49 percent from the same period last year and 6.6 percent compared with the average level of 2016.
In the first two months of 2017, the capital mobilization on the stock market reached 40.7 trillion VND (1.8 billion USD), a year-on-year reduction of 27 percent but the capital mobilization in February increased 79 percent from that of January.
Relating to new products like derivatives, the SSC chairman said the legal framework for the derivative market has been basically put in place and guidelines on listing, transacting, membership, and clearing have been completed by the HNX and the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD).
VSD Deputy General Director Duong Ngoc Tuan said about 10 companies have met requirements to join the derivative market.
Chairman Vu Bang also noted that after some investment funds withdrew capital from Vietnam in the last months of 2016 due to expectations of Fed raising interest rate and the US dollar gaining value, since early this year, foreign investors have bought 1.545 trillion VND (69 million USD) worth of shares and fund certificates and 5.960 trillion VND (267 million USD) worth of bonds.
In the first month of 2017, the total portfolio value of foreign investors reached 18.4 billion USD, the highest-ever level.-VNA
