Bourse set to drive growth

The local markets have big ambitions to be regional players

Triet had earlier expressed his desire to develop Vietnam’s securities markets into a regional player by asking the New York Stock Exchange - the world’s largest stock market - to form a strategic partnership with the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

Triet also said that the development of all market institutions, including the capital and securities markets, would help speed up the equitisation process of state-owned enterprises.
“Our economic development will be healthier thanks to greater transparency and openness,” he said. Triet’s visit to HaSTC included several top government officials including Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh, Vu Bang, chairman of the country’s securities market regulator, Tran Van Ta, newly selected chairman of the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), and others. The state president also expressed his domestic stock market optimism by asking the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission (SSC) to map out strategy to ensure the country’s stock exchanges develop in a sustainable manner.

The government would create favourable conditions for the financial market and the stock market to develop in a more safe and healthy manner, Triet said.
To date, 254 companies are listed on the HoSE and HaSTC with total market capitalisation of around 40 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Vietnamese public companies have drawn VND90 trillion ($5.625 billion) from initial public offerings and new share sales in 2007, up three times against 2006, according to SSC statistics.
At the last securities trading session in 2007 on December 28, the VN Index closed at 927.02 points at the HoSE, up 23 per cent against 2006 while at the HaSTC, the HaSTC-Index stood at 323.55 point, up 34 per cent, respectively.