Nguyen Viet Cuong, deputy managing director of Vietnam
Opportunity Fund (VinaCapital), discussed with Thanh Nien Daily via
email the performance of Vietnam’s stock market and opportunities for
investors.


Thanh Nien: As a foreign
investment fund, what does VinaCapital think about Vietnam’s current
stock market? As an individual investor, not deputy managing director
of VinaCapital, do you want to continue to invest in the market or
withdraw money from it?


Nguyen Viet Cuong: The Vietnam stock
market now is relatively attractive compared to last year, with average
PE [price per earnings] of 11x and listed companies still delivering
impressive results over the first half of the year.


As fund managers in Vietnam, we remain positive on the
medium and long term prospects of Vietnam’s economy and so we think
that this is a good opportunity to build up a solid portfolio aimed at
medium to long term investments.


As an individual investor, I think the current
policies of the government have had a positive impact on the economy
and there have been good signs with the macro-economic numbers for June
and July.


This should result in a more stable stock market from
now to the end of the year, before resuming upward growth in the coming
two years.


Again, this is time for serious investors with a long term view to consider injecting more money into the stock market.


The stock market has moved up in recent sessions.


Do you think that the upward trend is stable?
Recently, foreign investors have increased stock purchases. Can you
explain the reason for this?


As mentioned before, in our opinion, the
macro-economic factors have gradually improved following the impact of
government policies and the confidence of investors has been built up
again.


This will support the market and enable a stabilizing trend in the coming months.


Foreign investors with a long term commitment may have
the same thinking about the market and this is why foreign portfolio
investment is coming into Vietnam.


The improvement of the economy as well as the positive
results of listed companies over the last two quarters means this is a
good time to buy, not sell.


What are opportunities for stock investors now and in the near future?


There are now several good opportunities for long term investors.


I think the best bet is with blue chip companies that
have a strong competency in their sectors and are able to overcome the
difficulties this year and still deliver impressive results over the
first six months of the year.


Besides that, the current attractive bond yield rates
supported by the stabilization of the Vietnam dong will bring more
options for investors now and in the near future.


What do you think about the market’s prospect in the coming time?


As mentioned before, we strongly believe in the prospects of Vietnam’s economy as well as the stock market.


With the ongoing improvement of macro-economic factors
and the dynamic growth of local enterprises, we believe the market will
swing back to an uptrend in the medium term.


This will bring many good opportunities for investors.