Vietnam stock market watchdog to provide support for businesses

The State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SSC), the country’s stock market watchdog, is considering a number of solutions to help investors and securities firms overcome negative impacts of the Covid-19 epidemic and global turmoil, according to the SSC’s Chairman Tran Van Dung.

Chairman of the SSC Tran Van Dung.

Among them are lowering fees for some brokerage services and easing regulations on margin trading, Dung told Vietnam Financial Times.

At the close on March 9, the benchmark Vn-Index plunged 6.28% to 835.49, the biggest tumble since May 2014 when the standoff between Vietnam and China occurred after China moved an oil rig into Vietnam’s waters.

Dung, however, noted the liquidity of the Hochiminh and Hanoi stock exchanges remained abudant with nearly VND6.5 trillion (US$278.69 million) traded, indicating investors were buying in battered stocks.

Besides, foreign investors remained net sellers but at a moderate amount of VND230 billion (US$9.85 million) on March 9, Dung added.

Dung said the freefall of the stock market was a common situation globally, especially as “all bad news came at one time” that directly impact investor sentiment, including the sharpest decline of oil price since 1991, prompting Goldman Sachs to predict Brent oil could drop to US$20 per barrel this year.

On early March 9, the Japanese government issued lower-than-expected economic data for 2019, heightening fears the global economy may come to a recession under the growing impacts of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The Federal Reserves (FED) on March 3 cut interest rates by 0.5% in an emergency move, prompting 65% of traders to expect the FED to continue lowering interest rates by 0.75% in the upcoming meeting on March 17. If it happens, the cut in the federal funds rate would take the borrowing cost in the short-term markets down to a range of 0.25% - 0.5% and raise concern over the US and global economies going to slow down.

For the Vietnamese stock market, new cases of Covid-19 infections were the main reason for shares going downhill, Dung said. However, Vietnam’s successful containment of the epidemic is just a matter of time, given strong determination of the government and the public.

Moreover, in the mid- and long-term, credit and fiscal support packages from the government will no doubt help enterprises recover, Dung added.

Dung urged enterprises, intermediary financial institutions and investors to trust the internal strengths of the economy and the resilience of Vietnam’s stock market.

Such confidence would help the market to rebound sooner and avoid unnecessary sell-offs, Dung stated.

In the coming time, the SSC would continue to closely monitor the market and only intervene out of necessity, Dung added, stating the authority would strictly punish cases of market manipulation or providing false information for unfair gains.