Vietnam’s stock market rises to record high

Vietnam's stock market rose by 0.92 percent on Thursday to close at more than 1,180 points, surpassing the record of 1.179 points set in 2007.

Blue chips were the driving force behind the record high on the benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE).

Dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), property conglomerate Vingroup (VIC), steel manufacturer Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) were among the main players, along with the banking sector's BIDV (BID), Vietcombank (VCB) and VPBank (VPB).

The stock market hit 984.24 on the last trading day of 2017, and then reached 1,000 points in early January, marking a dramatic recovery from 2007.

The market is seeing very low risks and high growth confidence, experts said.

Nguyen The Minh, a senior analyst at Saigon Securities Incorporation, was more specific.

“The VN-Index could reach 1,050 points in the short term and 1,300 by the year-end,” he said.

Minh said stocks that did not appear attractive last year hold a lot of potential now.

The 2017 market was driven by consumer goods stocks, but banking and energy will take the lead this year, he added.

Minh said the market will also receive a boost from foreign interest this year. Foreign investors made more than $1 billion in net purchases last year, the highest figure in five years, and they are likely to stick around for more privatization of public giants.

In its latest report, Bao Viet Securities said the VN-Index could even reach 1,182-1,187 in the coming sessions.