Vietnam’s stock-market rally has one name behind it

[HO CHI MINH CITY] Vietnam’s stock market may be the region’s star so far this year, but its shine mainly comes from a single source – Vingroup, whose companies are behind about three-fourths of the key VN-Index’s gains.

Strip out Vingroup and its two listed subsidiaries – Vinhomes, Vietnam’s biggest property developer, and Vincom Retail, the country’s largest mall operator – and the benchmark’s 35.6 per cent rally so far this year shrinks to just about 9 per cent.

While news of Vietnam’s soon-to-be-upgraded stock market, upbeat macro prospects and better-than-expected outcome of the trade pact with the US have also helped lift the benchmark index, the rally owes far more to the outsized gains in the Vin-related counters.