HÀ NỘI — Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) officials said they saw the potential for growth of the domestic stock market in the next two quarters of this year.

The officials made the announcement on Thursday, as the HCM City-based brokerage company inaugurated a transaction office on Hà Nội’s Nguyễn Chí Thanh Street.

The opening ceremony heard that the domestic economy was showing positive signs with stable growth, declining interest rates, and inflation and exchange rates under control.

While free trade agreements signed by the country were having positive impacts, the Government also pushed ahead with reforms, bringing about opportunities for enterprises to accelerate development.

“The Vietnamese bourse is still attractive for investors as half of shares in the market have the P/E (price-to-earnings) ratio staying below 10x, and the majority of the shares have the P/B (price-to-book) ratio of less than 1.5x. These levels are much lower than those of regional stock markets,” SSI Chairman Nguyễn Duy Hưng told the press.

“Now is a suitable time for us to expand brokerage services to individual customers. It is in line with our development strategies,” said the company’s deputy director of securities services, Nguyễn Duy Linh.

“I think the market will continue to see positive change in May with the country’s PMI (purchasing managers’ index) surging to a nine-month high, and banking reforms, as the governor of the central bank has opined lately, are progressing well,” Linh said.

“The most positive factor impacting on the VN-Index over the last few weeks is the return of foreign investors with their continuous net buys,” he added.

Linh also said US President Barrack Obama trip to Việt Nam in the near future would excite investors in the short term and impact on the Vietnamese economy, especially trade and budget conditions, in the long run.

“Good relations between Việt Nam and the US will stimulate foreign investment capital influx, promote foreign trade and drive confidence of the international community in Việt Nam,” he said.

Linh said that domestic economic stimulus policies would continue to be of investors’ interest this year, after these policies played drove growth last year. He predicted that the construction and building materials, and seaports and logistics sectors would benefit from the stimulus this year.

According to financial news website ndh.vn, SSI leads the share and fund certificate brokerage market in Việt Nam, representing a market share of nearly 14 per cent on the HCM Stock Exchange (HoSE), and more than 11 per cent on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange.

As of the end of March, the company had VNĐ4.8 trillion (US$213.3 million) in equity and VNĐ12.5 trillion ($555.6 million) in total assets. Besides securities services, it deals in fund management, capital investment and financial trading. — VNS