The Vietnamese equity market boasts strong potential to become a major source of financing for the private sector, according to specialists from the World Bank.

Foreign institutional investors are allowed to buy Vietnamese stocks without having enough money at the time of purchase from November 2 under Circular No.68/2024/TT-BTC recently issued by the Ministry of Finance.

The elevation of the stock market to "emerging" status can help Vietnam attract an additional US$10 billion in both direct and indirect investment, KB Vietnam Securities JSC (KBSV) reported, citing the World Bank (WB).

Vietnam remains in the watch list for a possible reclassification from frontier to secondary emerging market status, according to FTSE Russel’s Country Classification review in March.

Vietnam stocks are among the best performers in Southeast Asia to start 2024, and the VanEck Vietnam ETF (VNM) is participating in the rally, reported the US’ etftrends.com on March 19.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc chaired an investment promotion conference themed “Vietnam – Investment Destination” in Tokyo on March 12, which drew representatives from leading Vietnamese and Japanese financial institutions, banks, life insurance corporations, investment funds, and securities companies.

Listed companies’ earnings growth is expected to recover from zero last year to 10-15% this year, but with a wide variation between sectors, according to Michael Kokalari, a chartered financial analyst and chief economist at VinaCapital.

Vietnam is working hard to have its stock market upgraded from frontier status to an emerging market by 2025.

Global investors' attention is shifting to Vietnamese stocks, which have a higher long-term rate of return (ROR) than stocks in other emerging markets in the region and the world.