Can Vietnam take Singapore’s stock market crown?
The Lion City has long been atop the regional capital markets food chain, but other nations such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia are starting to compete
That picture, however, is vastly different today. It is not quite Wall Street, but the country’s financial centre, Ho Chi Minh, is fast heating up.
Last year, the country’s benchmark Vietnam Index soared to a 10-year high with a 47 per cent gain – taking the crown as Asia’s top performer, and the third best in the world.
The size of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange surged 75.2 per cent over the year to hit US$115.46 billion, going by annual statistics from the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE). The number of listed companies valued at over US$1 billion as well as daily trading volume has tripled.
“Investors have been attracted by Vietnam’s combination of growth and stability,” said Barry Weisblatt, head of research at Viet Capital Securities, adding that a privatisation drive has also helped to spur market activity.
Vietnam’s phenomenal growth – Maybank Kim Eng Research regional economist Chua Hak Bin has dubbed the economy “a rock star”– is but a snapshot of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean) surging capital markets.
