Individual domestic investors' stock accounts down for first time in Vietnam as index plunges

Stock accounts held by individual Vietnamese investors numbered 7,384,707 as of October 31, down 378,137, or 5%, compared to the end of September, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (VSD).

This marked the first time the number of accounts had dropped amid the plunging VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

In October, Vietnamese individuals opened 167,659 accounts while closing 545,386, the VDS reported, attributing the fall to investors closing inactive accounts.

Meanwhile, the number of Vietnamese institutional investor and foreign investor accounts increased 164 and 246 to 15,885 and 44,952, respectively.

Investors' interest in the stock market increased again from May to September, when the VN-Index recovered to more than 1,200 points, with new accounts opened each month exceeding 100,000.

However, in October, the index plummeted from the 1,155-point area to about 1,030. Trading value fell to a low level, at about VND12-14 trillion ($575.5 million), as backed away from the sharp declines.

On October 10, at a program to celebrate the National Digital Transformation Day 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked relevant agencies, including the State Securities Commission (SSC), to connect the national population database to the stock market to clean up data on securities traders. This task must be completed in November, he requested.

Regulators have been making efforts to clean up the stock market. A number of business leaders have been arrested for stock manipulation investigations, such as Asia-Pacific Securities JSC chairman Pham Duy Hung and general director Nguyen Do Lang, involving the APEC stock group; chairman of Louis Holdings Do Thanh Nhan with the Louis stock group and FLC chairman Trinh Van Quyet with the FLC stock group.

According to the SSC, the handling of organizations and individuals who commit violations on the stock market continues to be a major effort to strengthen market discipline, promoting the healthy, transparent and sustainable development of the market.

The VN-Index closed Tuesday at 1,080.29 points, down 9.37 points, or 0.86%, from the previous day. Trading value on the HoSE decreased by 11% to VND12.6 trillion ($517.3 million).

Foreign investors were net sellers on the major bourse to the tune of VND264 billion ($10.85 million). They mainly net sold MWG of Mobile World Investment Corp. and VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail.