The VN-Index rose by +0.1% in March, primarily due to the strong performance of VIC and VHM. PYN Elite -2.7%. Recently, the State Securities Commission of Vietnam announced a comprehensive plan aimed at upgrading market classification. The new trading system, KRX, is expected to be operational in May. FTSE published its review of Vietnam’s classification this week and acknowledged the progress that has been made. The next review will come in September. Vietnam is undergoing a major state-level restructuring, which will reduce administrative units by half. Vietnamese and U.S. businesses signed numerous cooperation agreements with a total value of up to $90b in recent weeks. SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet has been allowed to launch on a trial basis in Vietnam until 2030. These actions were to support Vietnam–U.S tariff talks, which have so far failed.
Macro: Vietnam’s Q1 GDP grew 6.9% YoY, led by manufacturing (+7.4% YoY) and services (+7.7% YoY). This is the highest Q1 GDP growth since 2019. International arrivals reached an all-time high at 6 million (+29.6% YoY) and +34% to the pre-Covid level.
For Q1, total export value reached $102.8b (+10.6% YoY), import value was $99.7b (+17% YoY). The US has long been Vietnam’s top trading partner. The Vietnamese government recently cut tariffs on numerous U.S. products, some of those now have a zero-tariff rate. The Vietnamese are actively negotiating with the US over a new reciprocal tariff of 46%.
PYN Elite Stock of the Month: ACV
ACV manages twenty-one airports in Vietnam. 2024 marked a new all-time high for ACV’s revenue and profit, reaching 22.5 trillion VND in revenue and over 10 trillion VND in profit. With these impressive records, ACV plans to pay a substantial stock dividend in the second half of this year. The company is entering an expansion phase with multiple upgrade projects and the new Long Thanh international airport serving HCMC. Additional expansion is also coming as ACV will operate a new domestic terminal at the existing HCMC airport soon, which is expected to significantly increase the current airport’s capacity.