Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The development of technology and newsegments is creating new investment products, giving Vietnamese investors morechoices besides traditional channels such as securities, real estate, gold orcurrency. However, more challenges are emerging, forcing retail investors to bemore professional to avoid risks. 

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and China's zero COVIDpolicy have triggered soaring prices of fossil fuels, disruptions in supplychains and rising inflation, negatively affecting global and domestic businessactivities. Many investment channels have become riskier. 

On the international market, the S&P 500 posted its worst first half since1970, while DowJones had its biggest drop since 1962.

In the domestic market, the benchmark VN-Index fell quickly in the secondquarter with a decline of over 20% from the peak set in early April. Most otherinvestment channels such as cryptocurrencies, gold, bonds, and real estate alsowitnessed strong fluctuations forwarding the downside and lower liquidity.

These investment channels are under great pressure from inflation,as well as geopolitical and economic uncertainties, Le Xuan Nghia, an economicexpert, said at a conference on "Managing investments in a flexibleenvironment" launched by Vietnam Investment Review on July 14 morning. Thedowntrend also reflects the rapid development of these investmentchannels, especially securities and real estate, he added. 

However, there are still opportunities for retail and organisationinvestors, Le Trong Minh, editor-in-chief of Vietnam Investment Review, said atthe event. 

Despite the general downside risks of most assets, the local derivativesmarket is more exciting than ever with a trading value up to 50 trillion VND insome sessions," Minh said.

"On the stock market, although the trading volume decreased, the tradingvalue still fluctuated around the threshold of 10 trillion VND a session, muchhigher than that pre-pandemic."

Speaking about the main growth momentum of the stock market in the secondhalf of 2022, Tran Duc Anh, head of Macro Research and Investment Strategy atKB Securities Vietnam, said that in the economy's resistance against risingpressure from external factors, the profit growth of listed companies willbe a driving force.

"We expect the market will soon enter a short-term recovery in the thirdquarter, reacting to positive macro indicators and the second quarter'sbusiness results season," said Duc Anh. 

Trinh Ngoc Duc, chairman of D.lion Media and Solutions, shared a similarperspective. "New investment opportunities will always appear in both thebear and bull market," he said. 

Regarding the real estate segment, Nguyen Van Ngoc, chairman of the board of RBGroup, assessed that many challenges and difficulties remain in themarket in the next six months and 2023, after growing too fast in the lasttwo years. 

This will affect investors who have bought assets recently, especiallyshort-term investors, or speculators.

However, he still saw positive points in the market in the medium and longterm. With the development of technology and online payments, especially duringthe pandemic, it is time for personal investment channels. 

Besides traditional investment channels such as real estate, securities, bonds,gold and foreign currencies, the market has developed many new investmentchannels.

Regarding new investment channels, the head of D.lion Media and Solutions saidthat the development of new channels comes along with the emergence ofinformation, of which investors have to verify accuracy and reliability.

"This is also a big challenge for businesses developing products relatedto the financial sector and blockchain," he said.

With the boom of media channels, investors who use traditional investmentchannels or new ones not only need to gain enough skills and knowledge,but also have to choose reliable information sources before making anyinvestment decisions./.