History
The Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center (HoSTC) located in Ho Chi Minh City, was officially inaugurated on July 20, 2000, and trading commenced on July 28, 2000. Initially, two equity issues were listed, Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Joint Stock Corporation (REE) and Saigon Cable and Telecommunication Material Joint Stock Company (SACOM).
In the beginning, an overall foreign ownership limit of 20% for equities and 40% for bonds was implemented. In July 2003, in a bid to improve liquidity, the government raised the foreign ownership limit for equities to 30% and totally removed the foreign ownership limit of a particular issuer’s bonds. Foreign participants on the Stock Trading Center of Vietnam must register through a custodian licensed to hold securities on behalf of foreigners. Once registered, a securities transaction code is issued to the foreign investor that will permit securities trading.
As of 2006, there are thirteen licensed securities companies. Of these, nine have been licensed to conduct a full range of securities services including underwriting, brokerage, custody, research, portfolio management and trading. The minimum capital required to operate effectively as an investment bank was VND43b (c. US$2.7m).
At the end of 2006, combined market capitalization of both Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center and Hanoi Securities Trading Center is 14 billion US dollars, or 22.7% GDP of Vietnam.
On 8 August 2007, HoSTC was renamed and upgraded to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange. This is the largest stock exchange of Vietnam at the moment.
As of July 2010, there were 247 companies listed on the HOSE with a market capitalization of VND537.4 trillion ($28.28 billion). The exchange had 141 listings in January 2008, including 138 company stocks and three fund certificates, with a total market capitalization of 365.7 trillion dong ($23 billion). Vietnam limits foreign ownership of listed companies to 49%.
Read more about this topic: Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange
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