5 pct of Vietnam's population stock investors

The number of new retail stock accounts in March surged to a new monthly record of 270,011, a 238 percent increase year-on-year, according to Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD).

In the first three months, 675,000 accounts were opened, nearly half of the total figure recorded in all last year.

The number of retail stock investors in Vietnam is now at 4.93 million, or 5 percent of the population. With organizational accounts, the figure is at 4.98 million.

The Ministry of Finance in November last year announced a target to have 5 percent of the population investing in stock by 2025 and 8 percent by 2030.

It wants the stock market to account for at least 85 percent of the country’s GDP by 2025, and 110 percent by 2030, and to become one of the four largest markets in ASEAN.

Vietnam’s stock market started to boom in 2020 after plunging to around 600 points due to Covid-19.

It has surged to around 1,500 points now, with retail investors accounting for most trade.

Last year, Vietnam’s stock market rose by 35.7 percent, making it the seventh biggest gainer globally.

The country’s benchmark VN-Index could reach up 1,850 points this year, up 21 percent from the new historic peak in January, as a new trading system provided by the Korean Exchange is set to give investors more confidence and reduce their concerns about transaction overloads, said James Estaugh, head of securities services at HSBC Vietnam.

RongViet Securities forecasts that Vietnam would have 150,000 new stock accounts on average each month this year.

Michael Kokalari, head economist of VinaCapital, predicts that the number of stock investors could triple in the next 10 years.

The rise in Vietnam’s stock market in recent years could be the beginning of a multi-decade surge, similar to what happened in Taiwan, VinaCapital forecast.