Stock market valuation ‘attractive’

Though the benchmark VN-Index has been repeatedly rising to new peaks this year, including 1,374 points earlier this month, the report said valuations are not too high as the current price-to-earnings ratio (P/E), which shows how much investors are willing to pay today for future growth expectations, is now at 18.6.

Some analysts have compared the current situation to 2006-2007 when a nascent and small market boomed.

FiinGroup said the difference between the two periods is that earlier there were both foreign and local investors while now the latter account for a huge majority.

The P/E ratio at that time was 31.4.

"Between then and now trading value has surged 17 times, the market cap by 14 times and the number of trading accounts by nine times while valuations are lower," the report said.

It expected insurance, real estate and retail stocks to appreciate rapidly this year.