The stock market today (February 14) opened with major indices fluctuating continuously with a downward trend. At the end of the session, VN-Index decreased by 5.06 points to 1,038.64 points. However, VNZ shares of VNG Corporation remained purple from the beginning to the end of the session and closed at 1,181,500 VND - recording the highest price of shares on the Vietnamese stock exchange ever.

Many sessions only trade 100 shares

Launched on UPCoM since January 5, but throughout January, VNZ shares had no transactions at all, so the price remained at the reference price of VND240,000. However, surprisingly, on February 1, VNZ shares had exactly 100 units (the minimum even trading lot on UPCoM) matched at the ceiling price, increasing by 40% compared to the reference price to VND336,000.

Since then, the scenario of matching orders with only one minimum lot of 100 shares per session at the ceiling price has been repeated continuously for the next 5 consecutive sessions. By the 7th session, VNZ code still increased to the ceiling price but the trading volume increased with a total of 300 shares. In the first 2 sessions of this week, VNZ's ceiling price increase has not stopped but liquidity has increased with the number of 6,244 shares and 5,600 shares.

The increase in VNG shares in the context of a general market decline, no liquidity and especially the company's loss of up to VND 1,315 billion in 2022 surprised most investors. This is also the biggest loss in VNG's history of operations.

At a price of nearly 1.2 million VND/share, VNZ's market price is nearly 15 times higher than FPT Corporation's stock price, and more than 28 times higher than CMG Corporation's stock price, which are technology companies that have been listed on the stock exchange for quite a while.

VNZ stock trading abnormally?

In the 23-year history of the Vietnamese stock market, VNZ has become the most expensive stock, reaching over 1 million VND. In the past, there were some stocks that had reached high prices of 600,000 - 700,000 VND such as SJS, FPT but all of these only happened in 2006 - 2007. This was the period when the stock market exploded and the VN-Index continuously rose as well as most stocks increased sharply with a large trading volume. That is completely opposite to the current general market situation.

According to the general explanation, VNZ shares are listed but there are almost no transactions because the number of shareholders is limited and mainly in organizations and internal shareholders. Therefore, only 100 shares are needed to match at the ceiling price. So who are the shareholders of VNZ?

According to the report when going public, VNG has more than 35.84 million common shares, including more than 28.73 million outstanding shares and the company owns more than 7.1 million treasury shares. VNG has 373 shareholders, including 4 organizations.

The only foreign shareholder is VNG Limited (Cayman Islands) which owns 49% of the capital, equivalent to more than 17.563 million shares. Next is Big V Technology Joint Stock Company which holds 19.83% of the capital, equivalent to more than 7.1 million shares.

Next is Mr. Le Hong Minh, founder and CEO of VNG, who owns 9.84% of capital, equivalent to more than 3.52 million shares; Vuong Quang Khai - member of the Board of Directors - owns 4% of capital, equivalent to 1.43 million shares. In total, the above major shareholders own more than 29.7 million VNZ shares. The remaining 369 small shareholders own more than 6 million shares, equivalent to nearly 21% of the company's charter capital.

Assuming major shareholders do not sell, even hundreds of small shareholders of VNG are unanimously "holding" shares to create a shortage of supply.

According to regulations, every 5 consecutive sessions of ceiling or floor price increase, the Stock Exchange requires the enterprise to explain. Almost all listed enterprises as well as VNG have the common scenario that the increase in stock price depends entirely on market supply and demand. The company has not had any intervention or control over the price movement of VNZ shares in the recent past.

Mr. Nguyen The Minh - Director of Analysis of Yuanta Vietnam Securities Company - commented that in the market, there are also some newly listed stocks that continuously increase in price due to concentrated shareholders, the number of shares is mainly in the hands of major shareholders and internal shareholders. "Pinning" stocks without selling creates scarcity, which is a condition for stock prices to increase to the ceiling due to less supply than demand. According to regulations, the company only explains and the stock exchange can only monitor in the coming time. Only when there are signs of abnormalities will the state management agency take the next action.

Mr. Minh said that the history of cases where prices continuously increased but liquidity was lacking like VNZ code, when the sessions with more transactions started and investors still followed to buy, the risk was very high. Because the stock could also lose liquidity when it turned around and adjusted, causing those who "followed the top" to suffer heavy losses because they could not sell their stocks.

Another stock expert further analyzed: Enterprises with a concentrated number of investors with too few shares in the hands of small outside shareholders, the goal of listing on the stock exchange is mainly inclined towards the scenario of pushing up the price so that large shareholders can withdraw capital after a long time of holding. For example, for VNG, large shareholders who have invested for quite a long time and want to withdraw capital will also find other partners, mainly negotiating transactions because at such a high price, it will be impossible to sell on the exchange. But to negotiate capital withdrawal and still make a profit, at least the stock price on the exchange must reach the same level as they bought before. And it can be seen that this is a "game" of large investors, so small investors should stay away.