According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) updated on August 18, the stock market adjusted sharply in July, causing the market capitalization of shares on HOSE to decrease significantly. This decline occurred in the context of key indices going down together.
As of July 31, 2026, the capitalization of shares on the HOSE floor reached more than 8.22 million billion VND, down 6.18% compared to the end of June. With a capitalization of more than 8.765 million billion VND on June 30, the capitalization scale of HOSE decreased by about 545,000 billion VND in just one month. This capitalization level is equivalent to 64.01% of GDP in 2025, accounting for more than 94.84% of the total market capitalization of listed shares.
The number of businesses with a capitalization of over 1 billion USD on HOSE also decreased from 54 businesses at the end of June to 48 businesses at the end of July, a decrease of 6 businesses.
6 enterprises leaving the USD billion capitalization group include: PNJ (Phu Nhuan Jewelry), KBC (Kinh Bac Urban Development), GEL (GELEX Infrastructure), VCI (Vietcap Securities), NAB (Nam A Bank) and VND (VNDIRECT Securities).
Among them, the most noteworthy case is PNJ. After the time when functional agencies announced information related to the 28,000 diamond smuggling case and prosecuted the former Director of PNJ Appraisal Co., Ltd. (P-Lab, a member company of PNJ) on July 2, PNJ shares had a month of fierce fluctuations, suffering an unprecedented drop almost throughout July.
From the price of 63,100 VND/share at the closing session of July 2, PNJ shares continuously decreased, starting from July 3 and closing the session on July 31, closing at only 31,000 VND/share, losing 50.87% of its value.
The enterprise capitalization from 32,290 billion VND at the end of July 2 to the end of July 31 was only about 15,863 billion VND. That is, in just 1 month, PNJ's capitalization has evaporated 16,427 billion VND.
PNJ shares once recorded the highest price in history since the company was listed, at about 127,000 VND/share, on January 30, 2026. Bringing the market capitalization to more than 43,300 billion VND (equivalent to 1.64 billion USD). Compared to this peak, PNJ shares currently lose about 75% of their market value, capitalization loses about 1 billion USD.
Besides the story of a sharp decrease in capitalization, the stock market is still quite headache with the problem of still sluggish liquidity. One of the important reasons for the weakening cash flow on the stock market is the liquidity pressure of the banking system.
The profit base of listed companies has not shown clear signs of weakening. Business results in Q2/2026 increased by about 52%, while in the first 6 months of the year it increased by more than 46%, despite differentiation between industry groups and capitalization scale.
However, the last 6 months of the year are still difficult due to the delayed impact of high interest rates, causing profit growth to likely still be positive but difficult to maintain the pace of the first half of the year.
Therefore, the biggest problem at this time is no longer whether the market is cheap or not, but whether liquidity will return or not?
Currently, improved system liquidity helps interbank interest rates decrease sharply, starting to create positive signals for the stock market. However, the market is still facing two opposing forces.
Improved bank liquidity and cooled interbank interest rates are factors supporting cash flow in the short term. But in the medium term, capital mobilization pressure, inflation and exchange rates make the room to reduce interest rates limited.
In that context, the development of deposit interest rates may become one of the important indicators for the cash flow trend in the stock market in the last months of the year.
If the mobilization level is kept stable, stocks still have conditions to maintain their attractiveness thanks to the prospect of corporate profit growth. Conversely, if the capital mobilization race causes interest rates to increase significantly, cash flow and the market valuation level will face a new test.
