Number of new stock trading accounts surge in March

By Phuong Dong April 8, 2020 | 07:11 pm PT

An investor watches stock prices at a brokerage office in Hanoi. Photo by AFP.

Securities companies registered 32,000 new domestic accounts in March, the highest monthly figure since the stock market peaked in April 2018.

In March 2018 domestic investors had opened 41,505 new accounts as the benchmark VN-Index steadily rose from around 1,000 points at the beginning of that year to reach a historical peak of 1204.33 points on April 9, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD).

At the end of last month, the number of accounts held by Vietnamese nationals was over 2.4 million, while foreign investors had over 33,000, an increase of just 190 from the previous month.

The VN-Index tumbled nearly 25 percent in March, making Vietnam the sixth biggest loser globally.

At the end of March the index closed at 660 points to give Vietnam the lowest price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple in Southeast Asia of 10. Several securities companies have said this low P/E could be factor in drawing money back into the market.

The VN-Index has since seen a resurgence in April, gaining for six straight sessions and closing at 748.02 points on Wednesday.

The government targets having 3 percent of the population participating in equity markets by the end of this year and 5 percent by 2025 under its Scheme for Restructuring Securities and Insurance Markets, which it finalized in early 2019.