The number of listed companies on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) and Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) rose from five in 2000 to 743 last year, it said in a statement.

"In the early days of Vietnam’s stock market it was hard to imagine that there would billion-dollar companies. Now we have over 20 of them on HoSE alone. The development of the stock market allows the private sector to grow," Tran Van Dung, chairman of the securities watchdog, said at a forum on Tuesday.

On the main bourse, HoSE, the combined market cap of listed companies is now VND2.8 quadrillion ($121.1 billion), or 57 percent of the country’s GDP.

The number of registered foreign investors on HoSE rose from 436 in 2005 to 33,850 last year, and they now own 20.6 percent of shares in the market by value.

On both bourses, banks and finance companies have the highest market cap, accounting for 29.08 percent, followed by property and manufacturing.

State-owned Vietcombank is the biggest listed company at VND309.3 trillion ($13.4 billion), followed by conglomerate Vingroup and its real estate subsidiary Vinhomes.