Hanoi (VNA) – The Securities Journalists Club (SJC) on December 27announced the top 10 events of Vietnam’s stock market in 2017, a year of manynew records.

1. Inauguration of the derivatives market

On August 10, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue pressed the button to launchthe derivatives market, marking a milestone in the development of Vietnam’ssecurities market.

The derivatives market, starting with the VN30-Index future contracts first,was hailed as an important component to completing the structural developmentof the financial market as well as key part of the development strategy for thesecurities market in the future.

The market, managed by the Hanoi Stock Exchange, saw over 946,300 contractstraded and 15,800 trading accounts set up over the past two months.

2. VN-Index hits decade-high

After being hit hard by the global financial crisis in 2008 when foreigncapital fled, Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index reached a decade-high of 970 pointson December 4, a gain of 46 percent over the end of 2016.

Vietnam’s stock market capitalisation hit 3.36 quadrillion (147.4 billion USD)in 2017, up 73 percent from 2016-end, and equivalent to 74.6 percent of thenation’s gross domestic product (GDP). This number has surpassed theGovernment’s target (market cap to GDP ratio) set for 2020.

3. Listings of banks and billion-dollar companies

Five banks have debuted shares on the securities market this year, lifting thetotal number to 13 out of over 30 joint-stock commercial banks nationwide. Somebanks have been granted transaction codes and are going through finalprocedures to trade shares in early 2018, like Bac A Bank, Techcombank andTPBank.

In addition, a number of listed businesses have seen its market value swell byan additional 1 billion USD, like Vinamilk (VNM), VinGroup (VIC), PV Gas (GAS),Sai Gon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (SAB), steelmaker Hoa Phat Group(HPG) and FLC Faros Construction JSC (ROS).

4. Foreign traders buy total net value of 1.2 billion USD

2017 has witnessed the strongest-ever trading by foreign investors with totalnet buy value of reaching nearly 26 trillion VND (1.2 billion USD), exceedingthe peak of over 24 trillion VND recorded in 2007.

Ending November, the total value of foreign portfolios hit 31.4 billion USD, up81.3 percent over the end of 2016.

5. FLC Chair sells 8.93 percent capital under the counter

On November 10, the State Securities Commission (SSC) slapped a fine of 65million VND (2,850 USD) for Trinh Van Quyet, Chairman of real estate giant FLCGroup (FLC), for failing to report sale of 57 million shares, equivalent to8.93 percent of the company’s capital, from October 20-24.

6. Criminal prosecution for share price manipulation

On December 4, Nguyen Van Giang, former Director of DongA Securities Co Ltd’sHanoi branch, was indicted for manipulating share prices of Consultancy Design& Urban Development JSC (CDO) on the HCM Stock Exchange.

SSC also issued a fine of 600 billion VND on individual investor Do Thi CamThuy for distorting prices of Split Stone JSC’s shares on the Hanoi StockExchange.

7. 15 audited financial statements not accepted

For the first time, audited financial statements for 2016 of 15 listedcompanies including KLF Joint Venture Global Investment JSC (KLF), Song DaInvestment and Construction JSC (SDD), CMC Investment Joint SJC (CMC) and HungLong Mineral and Building Material JSC (KHL) were not accepted by the SSC.

The auditing company, Thang Long Auditing and Valuation Co Ltd, was suspendedfrom working in the securities industry.

8. Sacombank plans to move the listing exchange

After taking the hot seat in Sacombank (STB) in June, Chairman Duong Cong Minhsurprised shareholders by announcing a plan to moving its listing from the HCMStock Exchange to the Hanoi bourse and changing its stock code from STB to SCMon feng shui (geomancy) considerations. However, the bank’s shareholders didnot approve of this plan.

9. Year of record share sales

2017 marked a number of successful State capital divestments, including a 53.6percent stake of brewer Sabeco (SAB) worth 110 trillion VND and a 3.33 percentstake of dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) worth 8.99 trillion VND.

10. Spectacular bond market growth

The bond market has become more active with total listing value topping 1trillion VND, up 8 percent over 2016 and equal to 23 percent of nation’s GDP.The average trading value was 8.9 trillion VND per session, up 38 percentyear-on-year.

This year also witnessed success in Government bond (G-bond) auctions withabout 189 trillion VND (8.3 billion USD) worth of G-bonds bought.-VNA