Stock market has 45 billion-dollar companies

By Phuong Dong December 2, 2021 | 08:13 pm PT

An investor looks at stock prices on the screens at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnam’s main bourse, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, has 45 billion-dollar companies, with three of them having a market cap of over $10 billion.

Vingroup (VIC), the country’s biggest private conglomerate, leads with a valuation of VND399.5 trillion ($17.56 billion), and is followed by its subsidiary, real estate giant Vinhomes (VHM), which has a market cap of VND368.38 trillion.

State-owned lender Vietcombank (VCB) is third at VND366.8 trillion.

Two companies that fell below the $10-billion mark last month were steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and state-owned Petrovietnam Gas (GAS), who lost 14 percent and 21 percent of their value.

Several companies had been worth a billion dollars or more but went below the mark last month, including Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), steelmaker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE).

Some new companies that joined the club were electrical equipment maker Gelex Group (GEX), Viet Capital Securities (VCI) and construction materials manufacturer Viglacera Corporation (VGC).

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index is now trading at around the historic 1,500-point mark as new investors continue to make a beeline for the market amid low bank deposit interests.