Conducting an initial public offering (IPO) to list on a foreign stock exchange not only helps Vietnamese companies attract investors but also strengthens their status and the country’s profile in the world.

The family of Vietnam’s steel tycoon Tran Dinh Long will mark a turning point in power if Long’s son successfully buys more shares of Hoa Phat Group (HPG).

The assets of the richest people in Vietnam have risen sharply in recent times. Many tycoons have earned huge recently.

The number of new stock trading accounts opened by domestic individual investors in April reached some 110,000, a nearly three-fold increase compared with the same period last year, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository.

The volume of corporate bonds without collateral or guaranteed only by shares issued in the first quarter of 2021 accounted for a large proportion, with a large part owned by real estate firms. This poses a significant risk.

The benchmark Vn-Index rose 4.1% in April and is up 12.4% year-to-date, outperforming the global emerging markets (GEMs), the Asia ex-Japan, and frontier market indices.

The stock market is the driving force for listed companies to strongly issue shares to increase capital. However, it is when unprofitable listed companies scramble to issue volumes of shares that the market becomes susceptible to facing many risks.

As the market benchmark VN-Index broke the psychological level of 1,200 points, along with many positive outlooks about the market, securities firms set big growth targets for 2021.

A series of listed businesses on the stock market have announced plans to expand and tap real estate investment.

The owner of Xuan Thanh Group is likely to be a powerful boss at LienVietPostBank. After being involved in cement and real estate, the most powerful tycoon in Ninh Binh province has entered the financial sector.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Cao Thi Ngoc Dung, Dang Thi Hoang Yen and Nguyen Thanh Phuong were in the news last week.

Realtors and securities investors have been pocketing big money in recent months.

The sudden surge in individual investors that had inundated the stock markets throughout last year has not waned in the first two months of 2021, with the VN-Index exhausting at a historical peak of 1,200 points.

Bank tickers will remain in the spotlight, with investors racing to capitalise on bright profit prospects.

The VN-Index set an all-time high record recently, reaching over 1,230 points and daily liquidity totaling around $1 billion.

This would be the first step for Vietnam’s state firms to list shares on international stock exchanges.

The Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE) has decided to put the HVN stock of Vietnam Airlines on the warning list from April 15 as its 2020 after-tax profit was reported at negative VND10.9 trillion.

Strong involvement of individual investors and participation of new foreign fund would help offset the net selling trend of foreign investors.

Bao Viet Securities Company (BVS) expects Vietnam's stock market might attract up to US$1.4 billion from index tracking funds, if Vietnam is officially upgraded to a secondary emerging market by FTSE.

Encouraged by the prosperity gained in 2020, the biggest commercial banks in Vietnam target making a profit of VND1 billion this year.