Vietnam currently applies foreign ownership limits to almost all stocks on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange.  Of note, as of March 11, of 401 stocks listed on the HoSE, 371 stocks had foreign ownership limits. For 366 of those stocks, foreign ownership was capped at 50 percent or less. This can be a deterrent for foreign investors and limiting with respect to raising capital for local firms. It can also be logistically challenging when foreign ownership gets close to said caps. In fact, these limits are one factor holding the local exchange back from an upgrade from a frontier market to an emerging market…

A number of construction materials firms reported losses last year and are now asking for government support, specifically more large scale infrastructure projects, Doanh Nhan Vietnam is reporting. This is not a good sign for the real estate industry in that construction firms, presumably in the know, are not banking