Pyn Elite Fund, an independent Finnish fund manager, upgraded long-term target for the benchmark VN Index to 1,800 points, from the close of 1,024 on Thursday, said the fund in a report.

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The move reflected Pyn Elite Fund’s view of  Vietnam’s positive economic outlook and the robust profit growth of listed companies, as well as its belief in the continuous modernization of Vietnamese financial market, stated the report.

Remarkably, the revised Securities Law is expected to be approved by the National Assembly at the end of November. This will be very positive news and pave the way for resolving the barriers on market upgrade, foreign ownership limit and non-voting depositary receipt (NVDR) in the following years, added Pyn Elite.

In October, VN-Index attempted to break the psychological level of 1,000 points, ended with a marginal gain of 0.9% month-on-month, led by banking stocks such as Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and Ho Chi Minh City Development Bank (HDBank).

Average daily trading value on the two main exchanges declined 1.9% month-on-month to US$191.4 million.

In October, nearly 600 companies from Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange and Hanoi Stock Exchange, accounting for 97% of total market cap, have reported results in the first nine months. Overall, their revenues grew modestly 8% year-on-year while net profit soared more decently 14.1% year-on-year. Sector-wise, retail enjoyed the highest earnings growth of 31.1% year-on-year, followed by real estate with 30.2% and banks with 25%.

The headline Nikkei Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI) posted at 50, on the same level with neighboring economies such as Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan (China), Indonesia and South Korea, amid a slowdown in output and employment in the region.

However, other macroeconomic aspects of Vietnam remain resilient. Inflation was calm, retail real growth surged 9.4% year-on-year while foreign direct investment (FDI) numbers showed improvement with disbursed amount up 8% year-on-year and registered FDI up 33.7% year-on-year in October, bringing total registered FDI to US$18.3 billion year-to-date.

As of October, Pyn Elite managed assets worth EUR412 million (US$453 million), in which cash accounted for 9% and the remaining were equities.