Data recently released by the HCM Stock Exchange (HoSE), Vietnam’s main bourse, shows slightly greater Q2 fragmentation in the brokerage market.

Vietnam’s top 10 securities companies held 61.33 percent market share in the second quarter, slightly less than the 62.64 percent at the end of 2019.

Market share here refers to the percentage of transactions of stocks, exchange-traded funds, and covered warrants on the HoSE.

The brokerage market was even more concentrated last year, when the top 10 held 70.47 percent market share, according to HoSE.

Retaining top position was SSI, Vietnam’s biggest brokerage by market capitalization of its listed shares, rising 2 percentage points to occupy 14.13 percent of market share in the second quarter.

Ban Viet Securities Company (VCSC) dislodged Ho Chi Minh City Securities Company (HSC) to take second place with an 8.84 percent market share, with the latter holding 8.77 percent.

However, the market shares of both brokerages have reduced by 0.86 percentage points and 2.26 percentage points respectively.

Those lower on the ladder, like VNDIRECT (VNDS), VPS Securities (VPS), FPT Securities (FPTS) and BIDV Securities Company (BSC), saw their market shares rise by 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points, while South Korea’s Mirae Asset (MAS) saw its share drop 1.17 percentage points.

The Techcom Securities Company (TCBS), a subsidiary of private lender Techcombank, is the latest brokerage to make the top 10 list with a 3.49 percent market share, with Kuala Lumpur-headquartered Maybank Kim Eng going out of the list.

In the first six months of the year, Vietnam’s stock market saw major fluctuations with the Covid-19 outbreak inducing mass selloffs in the first quarter and the second quarter seeing major recovery streaks after Vietnam was able to contain the pandemic.

The benchmark VN-Index, based on the performance of stocks on the HoSE, started off at 996.67 points, bottomed out at 659.21 points on March 24, and has recovered to 871.21 points as of Friday.

In between, it saw some record-breaking single-day losses, most notably a 6.28 percent drop on Monday, March 9, after Vietnam confirmed 14 new Covid-19 cases over the weekend.

The total value of securities instruments traded on the HoSE in the first six months reached VND595 trillion ($25.77 billion), of which order-matched transactions accounted for nearly 75 percent.

The number of people participating in the equities market also soared in this period, with 165,000 new brokerage accounts created as people looked for ways to invest during Vietnam’s social distancing period and its immediate aftermath.