Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung beats the ceremonial gong to open the first trading session of Vietnam’s stock market in 2018 on January 2 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The first trading session ofVietnam’s stock market in 2018 was marked with a ceremony held by the StateSecurities Commission and the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) on January 2.
Addressing the event, Minister of Finance DinhTien Dung said the stock market witnessed breakthrough development in 2017. Thenewly opened derivatives market developed rapidly, helping to perfect thestructure of the stock market in particular and the financial market ingeneral.
With the presence of many big businesses, the valueof the securities market was equivalent to over 78 percent of the GDP in 2016and 70.2 percent of the GDP in 2017, reaching the target set for 2020. The VN Indexended the year 2017 at over 984 points, up 48 percent from 2016. The liquidityof the stock and bond markets rose by 65 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
[VN Index expected to surpass 1,300 points in 2018]
The minister said last year, the stock marketsuccessfully established itself as a channel for mobilising medium- andlong-term capital for the Government and businesses. It greatly contributed tothe equitisation of and divestment from State-owned enterprises and to theattraction of foreign investment.
The official said his ministry will coordinatewith other ministries and sectors to carry out key solutions to continuedeveloping Vietnam’s stock market in a rapid and sustainable manner.
The auction of State-owned firms’ shares held atHNX and the HCM Stock Exchange brought about 128 trillion VND (5.67 billionUSD) last year. Market capitalisation at both exchanges approximated 3.5quadrillion VND (155 billion USD), up 73 percent from the end of 2016,according to Chairman of HNX’s board of director Nguyen Thanh Long.-VNA
VNA
