SSI Securities chairman questions ‘panic’ in Vietnam’s stock market amid Middle East conflict

Nguyen Duy Hung, chairman of Vietnam's leading brokerage, SSI Securities Corporation, has questioned whether geopolitical tensions were sufficient to trigger "panic" in Vietnam’s stock market after a sharp sell-off at the start of the week.

In a post on his personal Facebook page, Hung wrote: “The conflict all the way in Iran is pushing oil prices higher, but is it enough for Vietnam’s stock market to panic?”

Hung is widely seen as one of the most influential figures in Vietnam’s equity market and frequently shares investment views on social media. In the past, he has commented directly on market conditions during particularly sensitive periods.

The VN-Index, which tracks the performance of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) and VN30, which reflects the prices of 30 largest-cap stocks on the bourse, lost 114 points and 130 points respectively by the end of the Monday morning session, or declines of 6.47% and 6.82% compared to the reference point.

VN-Index fell to 1,653 points, while the VN30 dropped to 1,774 points, its lowest level since mid-December last year.

The HoSE was dominated by red, with 357 stocks declining, nearly 220 of which dropped to the floor. Only a few stocks bucked the trend, such as BSR in the oil and gas sector, DPM in the fertilizer sector, and HRC and TNC in the rubber sector.

Trading volume reached VND26 trillion ($989 million), with more than half coming from large-cap stocks.

In a report released late last week, VinaCapital analysts wrote that the oil price spike will weigh on Vietnam’s GDP growth somewhat because Vietnam net imports over 1% of GDP worth of the energy that it consumes, despite producing crude oil and gas itself. "It would be fairly straightforward for the Government to offset this drag on growth with stimulus measures," they suggested.

"The war in Iran should not have a major impact on Vietnam, partially because its exports to the Middle East account for less than 3% of total exports, and because protracted, large-scale ground operations in Iran are unlikely. Instead, we expect a more intense version of last year’s “12-day war,” lasting a bit longer but ultimately proving to be a sharp but temporary shock for global markets," they added.