The stock market has set records in terms of scores, liquidity and the number of new accounts this year.

HÀ NỘI — The stock market has set records in terms of scores, liquidity and the number of new accounts this year, as investors have seen it a shelter amid complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) reached a new record high of 1,500.8 on November 25, up nearly 36 per cent from late 2020.

Liquidity is regularly at US$1 billion, even hitting nearly VNĐ53 trillion (roughly $2.3 billion) on December 23.

According to the Việt Nam Securities Depository (VSD), by November 30, there were 4,083,325 accounts in Việt Nam’s securities market, 1.3 million higher than the number in late 2020.

Mirae Asset Securities (MAS) said in 2021, the VN-Index had successfully surpassed the 1,200 point mark and conquered the 1,500 point threshold, despite the economy experiencing two consecutive pandemic outbreaks.

Banking, real estate, materials, basic construction and financial services were the market leaders, contributing 31 per cent, 23 per cent, 15 per cent, 10 per cent, and 8 per cent, respectively to the growth of the VN-Index.

The firm reported that by the end of November 2021, the VN-Index increased by nearly 34 per cent compared to 2020 and was named among the markets with the highest profitability in the world.

Foreign investors maintained a net selling strategy in 2021, with a total net selling value of nearly VNĐ61.6 trillion by December 17, more than four times higher than the net selling level last year.

Domestic individual investors net bought more than VNĐ84 trillion in the first 11 months of the year, which was the main driving force to increase market liquidity and VN-Index continuously set new peaks in 2021.

In the context of low interest rates, the population’s idle money shifted to the securities investment channel, with the number of new accounts opened by domestic individuals remaining above 100,000 accounts each month.

Experts from the Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS) forecast that the securities market would continue to be an attractive investment channel, especially for individuals.

Nguyễn Thị Hoa, from ACB Securities Company (ACBS), held that the increasing engagement of domestic investors had signalled the continuous development of the market.

A new trading platform of the HOSE, scheduled to be put into operation in the second quarter of 2022, would help to facilitate the development of new products and lure more investments in the market, she said.

Echoing Hoa’s view, Trần Khánh Hiền, Research Director of VNDirect Securities Corporation, said the growth pace would be maintained thanks to economic recovery and the participation of domestic individuals.

However, the main risk for the market in 2022 would still be higher-than-expected inflation, which might lead to the roll out of tightened monetary policies, she said. — VNS