Vietnam’s stock market in 2011 will change course to a more positive direction thanks to new policies on securities and currency, the return of foreign investment capital flow and the recovery of the global economy after economic crises, forecast analysts.

Phan Quoc Huynh, Deputy General Director of the Wall Street Securities Company, said that 2011 is the first year the Resolution of the 11th Party Congress will be implemented and the Government would provide strong support in its macro policies. He added that the foreign exchange market is seeing more positive signs with a stable price for gold and the USD after a long series of rises due to impacts from the world gold market.

Additionally, the foreign indirect investment (FII) is forecast to flow strongly into the stock market this year due to cheaper shares compared with other countries in the region. Last year, about one billion USD in FII was poured into Vietnamese stock market.

Vu Bang, chairman of the State Securities Commission said that 2011 is the first year the stock market development strategy to 2020 will be carried out. Along with the amended Securities Law that will take effect on July 1, 2011, the commission will ensure the necessary conditions for a derivatives market to be set up, activate new regulations on issuance, reorganise the information system, risk and business management procedures to ensure a fair playing field for all its members, he also said.

Pham Thai Binh, Director of the Analysis Board of PetroVietnam Securities Incorporated, said that “by the end of 2011, the VN-Index is likely to increase by about 10 percent over last year.”

At the last trading session of 2010, the VN-Index had reached 484.66 points, a decrease of over 10.11 points or 2.08 percent against 2009.

The fluctuation of commodity prices in the world, shortcomings in macroeconomic policies and sudden changes in gold and foreign currency prices are considered the main causes for a gloomy stock market in 2010.

However, the stock market in 2010 still saw some bright points with the volume of capital through the market reaching 110 trillion VND, three times more than 2009 and the total amount of shares bought by foreign investors was worth more than 16 trillion VND, less than the record of 23 trillion VND set in 2007./.