Workers at Dung Quat Oil Refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai, operated by Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical JSC (BSR). BSR currently trades on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) with the code BSR (Photo: bsr.com.vn) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Margin trading should be allowed on the UnlistedPublic Company Market (UPCoM) to increase the exchange’s liquidity.
Margin trading allows investors to buy more stock than they would be able tonormally.
UPCoM has its own advantages such as a large daily trading band, many goodfundamental stocks with stable operations such as Vissan, subsidiaries of MasanGroup and Tan Cang Sai Gon Corporation, said Nguyen Hong Khanh, head of marketanalysis at Vietnam International Securities Joint Stock Company (VIS).
“These stocks, if allowed with margin trading, will attract more cash flow,”Khanh said.
“It is necessary to encourage State-owned enterprises to quickly register fortransactions on UPCoM after equitisation, which will make divestment easier andmore attractive to investors,” Khanh said.
Liquidity on UPCoM was modest, focusing mainly on banking stocks. The rest havelow liquidity, said Truong Hien Phuong, senior director of KIS VietnamSecurities Corporation.
“UPCoM is a capital mobilisation channel that plays an important role in theequitisation and divestment of State-owned enterprises. In order to attractmore cash flow into UPCoM, it is necessary to tighten the conditions on listingand improving the standard of information disclosure to gain investors'confidence,” he said.
The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), which operates and manages the UPCoM, haspetitioned State management agencies to consider allowing margin trading onUPCoM.
HNX said the move aimed to meet the needs of investors, improve marketliquidity and increase the space for securities companies to diversify.
If the proposal is accepted, the HNX said certain shares meeting requirementsrelated to business performance, corporate governance and operationalinformation transparency would be eligible for margin trading on UPCoM.
There are now nearly 900 enterprises trading on UPCoM. In October, there were813.8 million shares transferred, worth 11.4 trillion VND, equal to 6.3 percentof the total trading value on HOSE and 60.6 percent of the total trading valueon the HNX.
On average, the transaction value on UPCoM reached more than 518.5 billion VND persession in October, up 19.59 percent over the previous month.
Some stocks which meet the conditions for margin trading included the AirportsCorporation of Vietnam (ACV), Binh Son Refinery and Petrochemical Joint StockCompany (BSR) and the Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation(VEA), according to HNX./.
VNA
