Many former workers and traders in An Giang Province see their way to a prosperous future in the local stock market.

Number of investors in An Giang on the rise

Statistics from local securities companies shows that during the recent market rebound, which occurred in February and early March, many individual investors in Long Xuyen City have come to open new accounts.

One of the investors, Nguyen Van Be said that, as banks' deposit interest gets lower and fish farming proving unstable due to the bad debts of traders, he and many other farmers are turning to investments in stock while prices are low.

He revealed that after investing his entire savings of VND5 billion (USD238,000), earned after dozens of years trading in fertilizers and insecticides, he has earned a 20% profit.

Now his work schedule is very different than it was before. Every morning he goes to check his holdings and spends his afternoons at economic seminars in order to educate himself on how to invest wisely.

Another investor, Phan Thi Thu Phuong, who works at a company called Thanh Hai in Long Xuyen City, has followed suit and become a day-trader.

She said, “We are trying to take advantage of the current low prices, After so many years of trying to make money by old means like growing rice, raising fish or trading in electronics, we see this as a better way to make money."

According to the director of Kim Eng Securities Company’s An Giang Branch, Nguyen Ho Bao Tran, her office has received more than 500 individual investors after just one month operating in the province. “We collected over VND10 billion (USD476,000) on the opening day, and the funds continue to pour in." Tran added that many of the clients are former rice and fish farmers or gold traders.

Tran also said that An Giang has great potential for developing a finance market in the Mekong Delta region. While trading floors in larger cities like Hanoi and HCM City have become saturated, with many companies shutting down operations there, smaller markets in places in the Mekong Delta region including Can Tho, An Giang are looking more attractive, Tran added.

At present, besides Kim Eng, many others, including Ho Chi Minh Securities Corporation (HSC), Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS), are also focusing on the development of trading floors in this region.

Meanwhile, chairman of the An Giang Enterprise Association, Ngo Minh Duc said that the biggest difficulty for local investors is the lack of information and knowledge of financial markets. “If securities companies address this problem, investment will increase because of the promising nature of the region.

Duc says that now more than 2,500 small to medium-sized enterprises, and 6,000 branches of companies and banks operate out of An Giang. “The stock market will help save many enterprises that are facing a serious lack of capital,” he confirmed.