UK media outlet highlights Vietnamese equity market
VOV.VN - Proactive, a financial publication based in the UK, ran an article on June 15 to highlight the Vietnamese stock market recently reaching the milestone of US$1billion daily transactions, thereby making it the second most liquid bourse in Southeast Asia.
As the country makes its long-anticipated move from frontier status to a fully-fledged emerging market, the domestic stock market is now at a stage where an increasing number of private investors are getting on board, according to the newswire.
The article indicates that with the longest record of any independent asset manager nationwide and the second largest investor behind the Government, Dragon Capital is first on the list for overseas investors in the Vietnamese market.
Dominic Scriven, founder and chairman of Dragon Capital, said, "When we started, Vietnam's biggest export was scrap metal, and exports were US$2billion. After years in between where it emerged as one of the biggest agricultural exporters - of rice, of cashew nuts, of cinnamon, and several others.”
“This year, the country’s exports will be close on US$300bn and the biggest chunk of exports will be electronics and smartphones,” Scriven noted.
He therefore attributed these achievements to a political system, political philosophy, and a social structure that all combined to underlie consistency and stability.
While the Vietnamese equity market is now turning over a healthy amount each day, Scriven points out that the market remains relatively immature, whilst the Vietnamese economy still offers considerable catch-up opportunities with other local rivals.
He went on to reveal that approximately 95% of the Vietnamese daily stock market volume is made up of private investors rather than institutions, adding that with economic growth averaging 7% over the past six years, it is expected to remain as one of the world's fastest growing countries.
Dragon Capital is best known to UK investors as manager of the FTSE 250-listed Vietnam Enterprise Investments Ltd (LON:VEIL) investment trust, although it also runs an open-ended UCITS fund, exchange-traded funds, and various private mandates for investment managers and sovereign wealth funds around the world.
With assets under management totaling roughly US$5.5bn, of which the VEIL trust is makes up approximately 40% and the ETFs are just under 20%, the firm is one of the most significant players in Southeast Asia.
