Stock market investors in Vietnam closely follow official media and any misinformation it carries can badly hurt the market, says Nguyen Duy Hung, chairman of SSI Securities.
In a post on his Meta account Tuesday, Hung pointed out the mistake several newspapers made in reporting the arrest of his namesake, chairman of infrastructure builder Thuan An Group JSC.
Several newspapers carried the photograph of 62-year-old SSI chairman instead of the 50-year-old Thuan An Group chairman Nguyen Duy Hung, who was arrested Monday by investigators with the Ministry of Public Security.
The latter was detained pending further investigations into charges of "violating bidding regulations causing serious consequences" and "bribing".
SSI Securities has reported the misinformation to relevant authorities, including the Central Education-Communications Commission of the Party, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Vietnam Journalists' Association, the State Securities Commission of Vietnam, and the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).
The misinformation, carried by some official news agencies, has not only negatively impacted the personal image of its chairman, but also that of related businesses like SSI Securities and PAN Group where Hung is an executive, the leading broker said in its report.
Shares of SSI Securities, listed on the HoSE as SSI, fell 1.14% to VND34,550 ($1.37) apiece at mid Tuesday.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index plunged nearly 60 points, or 4.7%, to 1,216.61 points, becoming the worst performer in Asia with its biggest drop in 23 months. As of mid-Tuesday, the index had fallen another 9.64 points, or 0.79%.