Vietnam’s derivatives market is officially launched today, with stock futures contracts the first to begin trading.
Derivatives trading was planned several years ago to help draw more investment to Vietnam’s capital markets and broaden the country’s finance industry.
The futures market would initially launch stock index contracts, and when fully operational, more instruments would be introduced.
“(The launch) will help attract more foreign investors, institutional investors in particular, and boost market liquidity,” the stock exchange said in a statement.
The VN30-Index, which is reviewed periodically, captures the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalization on the Ho Chi Minh city stock exchange. The futures contracts are allowed to move by a maximum of 7 percent in each session.
The benchmark VN Index has jumped 19.1 percent so far this year and hit its highest level of 796.62 points since 2008 on Tuesday.