Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung beats the ceremonial gong to open the first trading session of Vietnam’s stock market in 2018 on January 2 (Photo: VNA)

Addressing the event, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said the stock market witnessed breakthrough development in 2017. The newly opened derivatives market developed rapidly, helping to perfect the structure of the stock market in particular and the financial market in general.

With the presence of many big businesses, the value of the securities market was equivalent to over 78 percent of the GDP in 2016 and 70.2 percent of the GDP in 2017, reaching the target set for 2020. The VN Index ended the year 2017 at over 984 points, up 48 percent from 2016. The liquidity of the stock and bond markets rose by 65 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

The minister said last year, the stock market successfully established itself as a channel for mobilising medium- and long-term capital for the Government and businesses. It greatly contributed to the equitisation of and divestment from State-owned enterprises and to the attraction of foreign investment.

The official said his ministry will coordinate with other ministries and sectors to carry out key solutions to continue developing Vietnam’s stock market in a rapid and sustainable manner.

The auction of State-owned firms’ shares held at HNX and the HCM Stock Exchange brought about 128 trillion VND (5.67 billion USD) last year. Market capitalisation at both exchanges approximated 3.5 quadrillion VND (155 billion USD), up 73 percent from the end of 2016, according to Chairman of HNX’s board of director Nguyen Thanh Long.