Vietnam’s major bourse has just 34 billion-dollar firms

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) currently has 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.

Currently, Vietcombank is the only listed firm with a valuation of over $10 billion (VND347,840 billion). It is followed by PV Gas at VND214,640 billion ($8.63 billion) and Vingroup at VND211,292 billion ($8.5 billion).

Vinhomes, a subsidiary of Vingroup, slipped sharply down from the VND200,000 billion milestone to VND159,947 billion ($6.43 billion).

The HoSE continued to fluctuate badly in October, with the VN-Index plunging 9.2% over September to 1,027.94 points; and down 31.39% compared to the end of the 2021. The VN30-Index also lost 10.87% from September to 1,026.84 points, equivalent to a decrease of 33.14% compared to the end of 2021.

The total trading volume in October reached 11.51 billion shares with a value of VND240,446 billion ($9.67 billion), up 9% and down more than 10% compared to the previous month, respectively.

Covered warrants (CW) trading reached about 38.37 million CW in the month with an average value of more than VND7.92 billion ($318.4 million) per session; up 36.19% in average volume and down 44.19% in value compared to September.

Meanwhile, the total transaction value of foreign investors in October, at over VND49,664 billion ($1.99 billion), accounted for more than 10.32% of the total trading value. Foreign investors net sold VND2,067 billion ($83.1 million).

In a recent report, BIDV Securities JSC (BSC) predicted two likely stock market scenarios in November.

In the first scenario, when the “psychology gradually stabilizes” and bottom-fishing demand forms a price level above 1,000 points, the VN-Index would hover at 1,100 points.

The driving forces for this scenario, according to BSC, would be positive movement of the U.S stock market and foreign transactions, the economy's macro factors being under control, and disbursement of public investment capital as well as implementation of the socio-economic development recovery package promoted at the end of the year.

Besides, clearer information about the corporate bond market would be a supporting factor for the market after a long period of strong correction.

In the second scenario, BSC believes that the situation of exchange rates, interest rates and liquidity in the corporate bond market would continue to be tense. At the same time, central banks would continue to raise interest rates, the "zero-covid" policy in China would not be eased and the geopolitical conflict situation would remain tense.

These factors can create pessimistic and negative sentiment on fears of a world recession and cash flows may continue to be defensive in less risky asset channels. This can cause the VN-Index to slip below the 1,000-point mark, retreating to areas lower than the bottom of 986 points, according to BSC analysts.