Vietnam touts stock market upgrade to American investors

Vietnam's government is determined to remove the obstacles facing a market status upgrade, thereby making the domestic stock market an attractive investment destination for domestic and foreign investors, said chairwoman of the State Securities Commission (SSC) Vu Thi Chan Phuong.

At an investors’ conference in the U.S. on Tuesday, Phuong said that the upgrade from a frontier to an emerging market will bring many benefits to the Vietnamese stock market, including attracting indirect foreign investment flows; improving the valuation of stocks, positively impacting the government's equitization of state-owned companies; increasing the number of large-scale institutional investors, diversifying the investor base, and attracting new foreign investors.

“These will have a positive influence on the liquidity of the Vietnamese stock market and its development towards approaching international standards and practices in business operations and corporate governance,” she noted.

Upgrading the stock market is not only the effort of the state regulator but also the joint endeavor of market participants, she added.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that in recent years, despite the challenges and difficulties facing the global economy, Vietnam has emerged as a country with prospects for solid and stable economic growth and controlled inflation.

According to the minister, Vietnam's GDP growth for the whole of 2023 is estimated to reach over 5% and 6-6.5% in 2024. More and more sustainable macroeconomic balances, increasing export growth, favorable FDI attraction policies and mechanisms, low public debt and abundant fiscal space are fundamental advantages for Vietnam to maintain its growth prospects in the long term.

Phoc reiterated that Vietnam is focusing on implementing three strategic breakthroughs, including perfecting and improving institutional quality, comprehensively developing human resources, and building synchronous economic infrastructure.

To achieve these goals, Vietnam needs to mobilize both internal and external resources, from direct to indirect foreign investment; develop capital markets, including the stock market; promote green economy, circular economy, and digital transformation, he stressed.

"We will inform investors about positive signs of the macroeconomy and the government's policies, and stay ready to exchange and discuss with American investors to further connect them with Vietnam, thus realizing the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership reached during President Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam in September," the official stated.

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index closed Wednesday at 1,122.5 points, up 13 points from the previous session. Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), represented by the index, increased VND3.1 trillion to nearly VND19.6 trillion ($806.9 million).

Foreign investors turned net buyers on the major bourse after six consecutive net selling sessions to the tune of VND245 billion ($10.09 million).