First Vietnam ETF traded in US advances in debut

[phuocpham]

Vietnam’s first exchange-traded fund listed in the US stock market rose in debut trading as foreign investors sought to tap into a rally that has made the VNindex the eighth-best performer in the world.

The Market Vectors Vietnam ETF rose 4.1 percent to US$26.02 in New York Stock Exchange trading last Friday. The fund, introduced by New York -based Van Eck Global, is part of a growing trend of emerging-market equity ETFs. Unlike mutual funds, whose shares are priced once a day, ETFs are listed on an exchange and trade like stocks.

Vietnam, the world’s second-biggest rice and coffee exporter and the biggest cashew producer, has posted average annual economic growth of 7.5 percent this decade, helping lure investment to the country.

“Countries that are able to export and provide some of the food for the rest of the region and indeed the world, like Vietnam, are going to become increasingly important,” David Semple, who helps manage about $13 billion in equities and commodities at Van Eck, said in a presentation unveiling the ETF in New York Friday.

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index, a measure of 162 companies on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, has gained 61 percent this year, putting it in the top 10 of the world’s best-performing equity benchmark measures among 89 indexes tracked by Bloomberg.

ETF growth

Emerging-market equity ETFs are benefiting from growing investor demand, with the funds’ assets under management jumping 83 percent to $130 billion this year, according to Barclays Plc data.

Vietnam’s economy expanded 6.2 percent in 2008, the slowest pace since 1999, as higher interest rates and lending restrictions curb construction and the global recession hurts tourism.

A revival in construction as stimulus spending began to filter through the economy and costs for cement and steel dropped underpinned an acceleration in second-quarter growth to 3.9 percent from 3.1 percent in the first quarter.

Growth pickup

The pickup in growth helped the VN-Index rebound from a 66 percent slump in 2008. The stock market rally this year also led to the listing of Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, the country’s third-biggest bank, and of Bao Viet Holdings, its biggest insurer.

Vietnam has “largely completed” its more than two-decade-old shift to a market-based economy, according to a study performed for a Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

The economic policy changes were introduced in 1986. The reforms led to the sale of shares in state-owned companies, the birth of stock markets in HCMC and Hanoi, and Vietnam joining the World Trade Organization in 2007.