Hanoi (VNA) – The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) on January 4 held a gong-beating ceremony to start the first trading session of the Vietnamese stock market.

According to HNX Deputy General Director Nguyen Tuan Anh, last year, the Vietnamese stock market saw strong growth and became an attractive investment channel.

By the end of the year, the market capitalisation had reached over 750 quadrillion VND (329.3 billion USD), a 45-percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year and equivalent to 100 percent of the GDP. VN-Index exceeded 1,500 points for the first time on November 26, marking a historical peak in Vietnam's securities market, he said.

Addressing the event, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that Vietnam had a tough year in 2021 with many challenges from COVID-19. However, the year ended with positive results, he added.

With GDP expanding 2.59 percent, Vietnam still managed to remain microeconomic stability and good control over inflation, interest rate and exchange rate, he said, adding that last year, the stock market contributed nearly 11 trillion VND (483 million USD) to the State budget, higher than 5.2 trillion VND in 2020.

Meanwhile, along with new records in many indications, the market liquidity also rose strongly, exceeding 1 billion USD in many sessions and even 2 billion USD in some sessions. The number of newly registered securities accounts in 2021 was equivalent to the combined number of the four previous years.

Capital mobilisation on the stock market increased 25 percent year on year, with the value of issued corporate shares and bonds rising 2.3 times compared to 2020.

However, Minister Phoc also pointed to a number of loopholes in the market that need more efforts in legal framework completion to fix.

Although congestion on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) has been settled, the minister asked the Vietnam Stock Exchange and technology solution provider FPT to work together to avoid similar situation in the future.

Holding that the economy still faces many challenges in 2022, he asked the securities sector to become more active to meet all targets, continuously completing relevant institutions and organisation for higher efficiency./.