The Vietnam stock market index most commonly used is the VN-Index. This is made up of a basket of stocks listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange–or HoSE for short–and is published and analysed in most major news publications in Vietnam daily.
That said, there are several other indexes, both domestic and foreign,that track different aspects of Vietnam’s key stock exchanges.
This article breaks down several key indexes including the VN-Index, the VN30, the HNX, the HNX30, the MSCI Vietnam Small Cap Index, MSCI Vietnam Index (USD), FTSE Vietnam All-Share Index, and the FTSE Vietnam Index.
Note that these indexes may be easier to understand with a general background of the structure of how stocks are traded in Vietnam. In this light, first reading The Vietnam Stock Exchange: Quick Guide 2024 may prove helpful.
HoSE Indexes
The HoSE is Vietnam’s biggest stock exchange with about 400 companies with a total market capitalisation of US$172 billion as of October of 2023. The HoSE is currently considered a frontier market with several reforms needed before it can be upgraded to an emerging market. This, however, has not deterred foreign investors with a number of international securities firms buying into the market both directly and through exchange-traded funds.
The HoSE itself tracks the market through several indexes. The two most well-known are the VN-Index and the VN30.
VN-Index
The VN-Index contains all of the stocks listed on the HoSE. These are weighted based on their market capitalisation and provide a broad overview of the stock market. This index is the most well-known and the most widely reported in the media.
VN30
Aside from the VN-Index, the other major index used in Vietnam is the VN30.
The VN30 is an index of 30 stocks listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange based on their market capitalization, free float, and liquidity. Essentially, key decision makers at the HoSE:
- Take the top 50 stocks by market capitalisation on the stock exchange;
- Remove any stocks with a free-float ratio of less than five percent; and then
- Sort them by their average daily transaction value over the preceding six months.
The top 30 on this list then form the VN30 for the next six months–This is adjusted on the fourth Monday in January and July each year.
List of stocks in the VN30, August 2024
| Code | Company name |
| ACB | Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank |
| BCM | Industrial Investment and Development Corporation – JSC |
| BID | Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam |
| BVH | Bao Viet Group |
| CTG | Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade |
| FPT | FPT Joint Stock Company |
| GAS | Vietnam Gas Corporation – Joint Stock Company |
| GVR | Vietnam Rubber Industry Group – Joint Stock Company |
| HDB | Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank |
| HPG | Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company |
| MBB | Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank |
| MSN | Masan Group Joint Stock Company |
| MWG | Mobile World Investment Joint Stock Company |
| PLX | Vietnam Petroleum Group |
| POW | Vietnam Petroleum Power Corporation – Joint Stock Company |
| SAB | Saigon Beer – Alcohol – Beverage Joint Stock Corporation |
| SHB | Saigon – Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank |
| SSB | Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank |
| SSI | SSI Securities Joint Stock Company |
| STB | Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank |
| TCB | Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank |
| TPB | Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank |
| VCB | Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam |
| VHM | Vinhomes Joint Stock Company |
| VIB | Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank |
| VIC | Vingroup Corporation – Joint Stock Company |
| VJC | VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Company |
| VNM | Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company |
| VPB | Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank |
| VRE | Vincom Retail Joint Stock Company |
Source: Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange | VN30 stock basket
MSCI
Morgan Stanley Capital International–or MSCI–has several key indexes that include stocks listed on the HoSE.
MSCI Vietnam Index
The MSCI Vietnam Index includes 56 stocks that cover about 85 percent of the value of the HoSE. As of July 2024, the Vietnam Index was divided by real estate at 25.06 percent, financials at 24.78 percent, consumer staples at 17.22 percent, materials at 16.09 percent, and industrials at 9.68 percent.
Top 10 stocks, July 2024, by weighting
| July 2024 | Sector | |
| Hoa Phat Group | 10.94 | Materials |
| Vinhomes | 7.18 | Real Estate |
| Vietnam Dairy Product | 6.72 | Cons Staples |
| Vietcombank | 6.4 | Financials |
| Vingroup | 6.23 | Real Estate |
| Masan Group Corporation | 6.12 | Cons Staples |
| Ssi Securities Corporation | 4.28 | Financials |
| Duc Giang Chemical Group | 2.67 | Materials |
| VNdirect Securities Corporation | 2.28 | Financials |
| Vincom Retail | 2.22 | Real Estate |
| Total | 55.03 |
MSCI Vietnam Small Cap Index
A total of 121 constituents make up the MSCI Vietnam Small Cap Index. Overall the index, as of July 2024, was divided by real estate at 14.35 percent, financials at 12.73 percent, consumer staples at 10.53 percent, materials at 12.69 percent, and industrials at 32.29 percent.
Top 10 stocks, July 2024, by weighting
| July 2024 | Jan 2024 | Sector | |
| Songda Urban & Indl | Removed | 3.03 | Real Estate |
| Nam Kim Steel | Removed | 2.47 | Materials |
| Dabaco Group | 2.96 | 2.43 | Consumer Staples |
| Deo Ca Traffic Infra | 1.74 | 2.41 | Industrials |
| Binh Dinh Pharmaceuticals | 2.16 | 2.31 | Health Care |
| Scg Construction Group | 1.98 | 2.12 | Industrials |
| Vietnam Container | 1.91 | 2.08 | Industrials |
| Thu Dau Mot Water | 1.95 | 1.77 | Utilities |
| Tien Phong Securities | Removed | 1.76 | Financials |
| Pan Group (the) | 1.77 | 1.74 | Consumer Staples |
| Bamboo Capital | 2.24 | New | Industrials |
| Becamex Infrastructure | 1.99 | New | Industrials |
| An Phat Bioplastics | 1.62 | New | Materials |
| Total | 20.32 | 22.12 |
Source: MSCI Vietnam Small Cap Index – Factsheet
MSCI Frontier Markets Index
In July of 2024, Vietnam accounted for 25.39 percent of the market capitalization of the MSCI Frontier Markets Index. This put Vietnam well ahead of the next closest market which was Romania with 13.67 percent.
Vietnam’s contribution in terms of stocks is Vinhomes and Hoa Phat Group.
Of note, Vietnam has been actively courting an upgrade from MSCI from frontier to emerging, however, the HoSE still lags on a number of fronts.
In June, MSCI released its 2024 Global Market Accessibility Review in which Vietnam’s stock market conditions for foreign inventors had improved slightly.
Specifically, the review noted that Vietnam “had an improvement in its rating for the Transferability criterion on the back of increased uptake for off-exchange and in-kind transactions following regulation changes.”
FTSE Russell
FTSE Russell tracks the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange through several indexes.
FTSE Vietnam All-Share Index
The FTSE Vietnam All-Share Index is a broad index of the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange. The top 10 stocks included in the index, as of July 2024, made up 50.25 percent of the index. These stocks covered industrials, telecommunications, real estate, food, banks, and retail. In total, there were 62 stocks included in the index with a collective market capitalisation of about US$4.3 billion.
Top 10 stocks, July 2024, by weighting
| Constituent | % | Sector |
| FPT | 8.32 | Software and Computer Services |
| Hoa Phat Group | 7.7 | General Industrials |
| Vingroup | 4.7 | Real Estate |
| Vietnam Dairy Products | 5 | Food Producers |
| Vietcombank | 5 | Banks |
| Vinhomes | 4 | Real Estate |
| Masan Group Corp. | 4 | Food Producers |
| Mobile World Investment | 4 | Retailers |
| VP Bank | 4 | Banks |
| SSI Securities | 3 | Brokerage Services |
| Totals | 50.25 |
FTSE Vietnam Index
The FTSE Vietnam Index is made up of stocks included in the Vietnam All-Share Index that have stock available for purchase by foreign investors. The top five constituents of the index, as of July 2024, were Hoa Phat Group which is most well known for steel production; real estate developer, Vinhomes; Vingroup, the parent company of Vinhomes along with a number of other companies in fields as diverse as electric cars to universities; Vietcombank; and Vietnam Dairy Products more commonly known as Vinamilk.
Top 5 stocks, July 2024
| Constituent | Sector | Weight % |
| Hoa Phat Group JSC | General Industrials | 14.46 |
| Vinhomes | Real Estate | 8.14 |
| Vingroup JSC | Real Estate | 8.82 |
| Vietcombank | Banking | 8.62 |
| Vietnam Dairy Products JSC | Food Producers | 8.78 |
| Totals | 49.56 |
Source: FTSE Vietnam Index Series
FTSE Frontier Index
The FTSE Frontier Index tracks the least developed global markets. Of note, 99 constituents on the index were from Vietnam with Vietnam accounting for 35.70 percent of the market capitalization of the index in July of 2024. The next closest country was Morocco covering 15.81 percent.
Note that Vietnam is currently on the FTSE Russell watchlist for a potential upgrade from frontier to secondary emerging market. The two key criteria currently holding Vietnam’s biggest exchange back are settlement costs and the time between delivery and payment.
S&P Dow Jones
S&P Dow Jones has a number of indexes that include stocks listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange.
S&P Frontier Broad Market Index (BMI)
Like FTSE Russle and MSCI, S&P Global maintains an index of frontier markets–the S&P Frontier BMI. As of July 2024, Vietnam had 85 stocks included in the index with a combined market capitalization of US$121.3 million. This gave Vietnam the second highest weighting on the index accounting for 11.7 percent. It trailed only Argentina at 33.3 percent.
S&P Vietnam BMI
S&P also maintains the S&P Vietnam BMI. This index contains 85 stocks with the top ten constituents accounting for 50 percent of the total market capitalization. By sector, financials had the biggest weighting with 23.5 percent followed by real estate with 24.1 percent. The top five were rounded out by consumer staples, materials, and industrials rounding out the five with 15.7 percent, 16.3 percent, and 12.4 percent, respectively. This was current as of July 2024.
Top 10 stocks by weight, July 2024
| Name | Ticker | Sector |
| Hoa Phat Group JSC | HPG | Materials |
| Vietcombank | VCB | Financials |
| Viet Nam Dairy Products JSC | VNM | Consumer Staples |
| Masan Group Corp | MSN | Consumer Staples |
| Saigon Securities Inc | SSI | Financials |
| Vinhomes Jsc | VHM | Real Estate |
| Vincom JSC | VIC | Real Estate |
| Vietjet | VJC | Industrials |
| Duc Giang Chemicals And Detergent Powder | DGC | Materials |
| VNDirect Securities JSC | VND | Financials |
HNX Indexes
The less well-known stock market in Vietnam is the Hanoi Stock Exchange. This deals mostly with bonds but also functions as a stepping stone for companies looking to list on the HoSE through its Unlisted Public Companies Market–UPCom. Trading on the HNX is much more limited than the HoSE but it does still have a couple of key indexes of note.
HNX Index
The HNX Index tracks the value of shares trading on the Hanoi Stock Exchange. It consists of listed stocks that have a free float greater than 5 percent.
HNX 30
Stocks are selected to be included in the HNX 30 based on market capitalization adjusted relative to the transferability of their shares. The HNX 30 has a maximum capitalization rate of 15 percent. Stocks are selected for the HNX 30 based on:
- Average daily trading value;
- Free float market capitalisation;
- Liquidity; and
- The discretion of the Index Council.
Of the stocks that meet the criteria, the top 30 are selected, with a maximum of 20 percent of stocks from any single industry.
What’s next?
Vietnam stock market indices are many and varied. Each gives a unique glimpse into how Vietnam’s stock markets are performing both in isolation and in the context of the wider world. This overview of each of these key indexes should provide a broad understanding of those key indexes and how they are compiled.
Change, however, with respect to Vietnam’s status as a frontier market, may be afoot. An upgrade to an emerging market would likely lead to a significant change to Vietnam’s stock market indexes and a surge in investment, however, this may still be some time away.
To keep track of changes in the Vietnam stock market, investors should make sure to subscribe to the-shiv.
Last updated: August 24, 2024: Updated latest data for all index including constituents and weighting.