Vietnamese investors set 10-month record in opening new securities accounts

Vietnamese investors opened 145,864 new securities accounts in June, up more than 45,000 accounts or 45% from May, to set a 10-month record.

June also marked the second consecutive month that the number of new accounts opened by Vietnamese investors has increased sharply after plunging in April.

Of this, individual investors accounted for 99.95%, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD).

As of the end of June, the total number of Vietnamese individual investor accounts exceeded 7.25 million, more than 7.2% of the nation’s population.

The number of new securities accounts increased sharply on the back of positive stock market movements in recent months. Since the beginning of 2023, the VN-Index has increased by 9% and joined the group of markets with good growth globally, surpassing its peers in Southeast Asia.

Market liquidity has increased again. After standing on the sidelines of the market for a long time, many investors have started trading again or moved cash flows from bank savings to securities.

In June alone, the matching value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) surged by 56%, equivalent to that of August 2022, before the market was shaken by the arrests of some corporate executives on charges of market manipulation or information disclosure violations and the deposit interest rate race had not yet occurred. The most prominent arrest was of FLC Group chairman Trinh Van Quyet.

Most analysts believe that the current positive trend will continue in the second half of 2023. In July alone, the VN-Index is expected to hover in the 1,090 - 1,170 points range.

The market's downside risk is likely to be dominated by the adverse movements of the exchange rate in the context of the overnight interest rate difference between VND and USD being very large and there being a high possibility that the Fed will continue to raise the federal funds rate; not to mention the profits of some large-cap stocks not meeting analysts and investors' expectations.