VN stock market still booms amid pandemic: SSC Chairman
VN stock market still booms amid pandemic: SSC Chairman
The Vietnamese stock market has flourished amid global uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Tran Van Dung, Chairman of the State Securities Commission (SSC). 
“The stock market so far this year has developed significantly with the VN-Index rising by 27 per cent since July and 9 per cent since the beginning of this year,” he said.
“Market liquidity has soared to more than VND10 trillion per session in recent sessions. The VN-Index has regained the milestone of 1,000 points even though there was time VN-Index fell to 650 points as a result of COVID-19.
He attributed the development to many factors such as the Government's policies, the potential of economic development in Viet Nam and the resilience of Vietnamese enterprises amid the pandemic.
Dung said: "Although Viet Nam has to confront two waves of COVID-19, the impact of the disease itself so far is negligible. We are more influenced by the disruption of the global supply chain and the common difficulties met by the global economy.
“This showed the government's reasonable policies to ensure the safety of the people while still considering facilitating economic development. Although the tourism sector saw a decline in foreign visitors but domestic tourists were still crowded. We see a huge increase in Viet Nam's exports and we report a large trade surplus. We still keep a relatively stable exchange rate and inflation rate.”
“Vietnamese enterprises are quite resilient amid pandemic as statistics showed that 84 per cent of listed and trading enterprises were profitable as of the end of the third quarter. However, we believe that micro and small businesses were still seriously affected in recent times.
Dung was speaking at the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) held early this week to announce results of the 33rd Chairs’ Meeting via videoconference.
It was the final event among the activities within the scope of the ACMF in 2020 held under the chair and coordination of Viet Nam’s State Securities Commission (SSC).
In its latest announcement, FTSE Russell said Viet Nam still remained on the equity index watchlist for possible upgrade to “secondary emerging market” from “frontier market,” which was a positive result, Dung said.
He said: “The Securities Law and the Law on Enterprises and Investment will both take effect in early 2021, creating a better and transparent investment environment, which is a plus for the economy and the stock market.
"In 2020, thanks to the upgrading of Kuwait, Viet Nam’s weight in MSCI Frontier Markets Index and MSCI Frontier Markets 100 Index has been raised to 25.8 per cent and 30 per cent, attracting a lot of attention from international investors. I think we can say confidently that we can meet the target of upgrading Viet Nam market before 2025 set by the Government.
“State Securities Commission has worked actively with the World Bank, to timely update information with FTSE Russel and MSCI on laws and market situation in Viet Nam, besides learning more about the practice of other upgraded markets.”
At the meeting, leaders of capital market management authorities in ASEAN countries spoke highly of Viet Nam’s efforts in promoting the implementation of targets in capital market integration in the region, deepening regional linkage with the international community for sustainable development, and improving adaptation and institutional capacity of ASEAN.
Sustainability bond standards
With the theme of “Sustainable Finance”, the meeting discussed and agreed that the ACMF will roll out sustainability bond standards to support bond issuance for the realisation of sustainable development goals, aiming to complete tools for ASEAN bond issuance.
To further foster the regional sustainable eco-financial system, delegates also agreed to conduct research on the building of a sustainable classification system.
They commended the SSC’s role and coordination in partnering with their counterparts in ASEAN countries and member markets in the building of the ACMF Action Plan for 2021-25.
Five main priorities of the action plan were approved at the meeting, which will be submitted to the 34th ACMF Chairs’ Meeting.
Leaders of ASEAN’s capital market management agencies reaffirmed commitment to ensuring the ceaseless flow of the financial services market.
They also pledged to continue priorities for cooperation and collaboration policy between countries in the region and international financial organisations, in an endeavour to bolster sustainable economic development and financial stabilisation in ASEAN.
The Monetary Authority of Brunei will take the rein of the 2021 ACMF.
