New securities accounts take a plunge

Vietnamese individuals opened 96,290 new securities accounts in October, a record low since February 2021 amid stock market downturn.

The figure also marked the fifth consecutive month of declines, according to Vietnam Securities Depository. Currently, the total number of accounts for this group exceeds 6.65 million.

In October, 96,427 accounts were opened, bringing the market's total to 6.66 million.

In the group of foreign investors, there were 162 personal accounts in October, while foreign organizations recorded 12. In September, foreign individuals closed 63 accounts. As of the end of October, there were 42,242 foreign accounts.

The deep drop in new accounts is a signal that the attractiveness of the stock market has cooled after a period of hot growth.

In October, VN-Index was on the list of stock indexes with the worst performance when it fell 9.2%. This is the second sharp correction month in a row, thereby wiping out accumulated gains in the previous months.

Along with the index, the average matching value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) in October was also modest at only VND9,300 billion ($373.95 million), down 21% from the previous month and the lowest level since the beginning of 2021.

By November 5, the HoSE had only 34 companies with a market capitalization of more than $1 billion, lower than 39 companies in September and 46 companies at the beginning of the year.