Vietnam's Techcom Securities rises sharply during first day of trading

HANOI :Shares in Techcom Securities, the brokerage arm of Techcombank, surged in their trading debut on Tuesday following the company's $410 million initial public offering, Vietnam's largest in years.

The price had risen 5 per cent to 49,100 dong as of 03:44 GMT, with more than 8.9 million shares changing hands, according to bourse data, giving the firm a market capitalisation of 115.3 trillion dong ($4.38 billion)

Vietnam's benchmark index was largely flat on Tuesday after Monday's sell-off, triggered in part by a government agency investigation into the alleged misuse of corporate bond proceeds.

Vietnam's IPO market has gained momentum, supported by a stock rally, regulatory reforms, increased credit activity and the country's upgrade to emerging market status by index provider FTSE Russell, despite persistent net selling by foreign investors.

VPS, Vietnam's largest brokerage by market share, and VPBankS, a unit of VPBank, are also preparing initial public offerings.

Analysts say the IPO wave among securities firms is driven by their need to raise capital to meet new regulatory requirements and expand their margin lending operations.