“The Southeast Asian nation is drafting a decree to remove the current limit of 30% on foreign ownership of banks and 49% on all other companies. The decree is due around July 1, though skeptics question whether it will happen that soon. It also may take time for Vietnam to formulate specific rules for increasing foreign ownership, making the whole process a gradual one,” reports TheStreet.
It is widely expected Vietnam will boost foreign ownership limits for some sectors to 60% this year from 49%. That could stoke institutional buying of local stocks, lifting VNM along the way.
Last year, Vietnam formed a commission to explore taking the necessary steps for the country to shed its frontier status and gain entry into the widely followed MSCI Emerging Markets Index.MSCI does not have Vietnam on its list of markets that could potentially be upgraded to emerging markets status. When the index provider revealed its annual market classifications in June, no frontier markets were listed as being in line for a possible upgrade to emerging markets status. [Vietnam Wants EM Promotion]
Market Vectors Vietnam ETF
