It marked the fourth month in a row in which over 100,000 accounts were opened, according to data from the Vietnam Securities Depository.

It takes the tally for the first half of the year to nearly 620,000, 58 percent more than in the whole of last year.

The number of retail investors now is 3.34 million, or 3.4 percent of the country’s population.

Also in June 139 institutional accounts and 277 foreign investors’ accounts were opened.

With most banks capping deposit interest rates at around 5.6 percent, compared to 7 percent in early 2020, investors have turned to securities as a better income generating alternative.

With the stock market booming, individual investors are flocking to open trading accounts, many without any previous experience.

The government targets having 3 percent of the population participating in equity markets by the end of this year and 5 percent by 2025 under its Scheme for Restructuring Securities and Insurance Markets, which it finalized in early 2019.