Securities trading account numbers surge to new peak

At nearly 4,000 accounts a day, the number jumped by 36 percent from December, previously the best month in the country’s 20-year stock market history, according to data from the Vietnam Securities Depository.

There are now nearly 2.86 million trading accounts in the market.

With most banks capping deposit interest rates at around 5.6 percent, compared to 7 percent in early 2020, investors have turned to securities.

The trend began last year when the benchmark VN-Index slumped in March after a major outbreak of Covid-19, but then recovered in the remaining months as the government imposed drastic measures to contain the pandemic and sustain economic growth.

Industry insiders said new investors helped the index climb to near 1,200 points in January before it plunged to below 1,000 due to fears that the latest outbreak in the northern localities could hurt the economy.

Average trading volume on the country’s three bourses topped VND20 trillion ($862.07) in January, against VND7.3 trillion in 2020.

Foreign investors opened 476 new accounts last month, the highest number since June 2018.