Most of them are listed on UPCoM and Hanoi, exchanges for stocks with typically low market caps, and were all penny stocks in January. 

Vinexad National Trade Fair & Advertising JSC (VNX), listed on the Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM), topped the list after rising 65 times from less than VND800 (3.5 cents) to VND51,000 ($2.2). It peaked at VND62,000 ($2.7) in the first week of May, a 77-fold rise. It hit the 15 percent daily limit for over 30 consecutive sessions.

UPCoM also saw many stocks gaining 200-450 percent including bridge operator Thai Ha Bridge BOT JSC, and two mining companies Haiduong Mineral Eineal Processing JSC, and Viglacera Mineral JSC.

On HNX, the most notable name was Vinaconex Investment and Tourism JSC, a subsidiary of the newly equitized construction giant Vinaconex (VCG).

Despite having traded at below VND5,000 ($22 cents) for the last seven years, it jumped to VND30,000 ($1.3) in June. The sudden surged follows the government’s divestment of a 57.7 percent stake in VCG and a change in key management personnel.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the country’s main bourse, saw only two stocks gaining 100 percent, CCL (Cuu Long Petro Urban Development & Investment Corporation) and TIP (Tin Nghia Industrial Park Development JSC). Both are however in the lower half in terms of market cap.

Of the VN30 stocks, those with the largest market cap on HoSE, none has gained more than 16 percent.

HoSE closed just 6 percent higher for the year in June. Hanoi’s HNX-Index rose by 5 percent, while the UPCoM-Index trod water.