The value of stocks in brokerages in Vietnam are through the roof as lower interest rates have drive retail invested to shift their funds from savings accounts to stocks, according to Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance. This is also reflected in the VNIndex which is up 21 percent according to the article.
Note: Savings interest rates are down as a result of an oversupply of cash at banks. Despite the State Bank of Vietnam cutting interest rates several times this year, borrowing is still well down on last year. There is a lot of speculation as to why that is, but there are a handful of recurring themes: businesses have sold or already mortgaged all of their collateral and therefore cannot borrow any more money; businesses don’t want to borrow with opportunities to expand limited as a result of broader global economic challenges; and consumer confidence in the real estate market is very low after a number of firms went out of business temming from a crackdown on Vietnam’s bond market.