There is information that seems to be random in the market but has a very strong spreading power, causing businesses to go bankrupt, investors and people to lose money. Spreading rumors is a way for one or a group of people to compete unfairly and gain personal benefits.
“Rumors always exist along with the movement of the market. The less transparent the market is, the more room there is for rumors to flourish. But in the end, once you enter the market, if you have enough talent, you will win and vice versa, if you don’t have talent, you will have to accept defeat,” said Mr. Pham Hong Tu, Head of the Trade Research Department.
Where did the rumor come from?
In its history of operation, perhaps Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) had not only a “dark” day in July 2003, when people flocked to the bank’s branches and headquarters to withdraw money because of rumors that the ACB General Director had fled. State Bank Governor Le Duc Thuy had to directly explain to depositors and at the same time decided to “pump” money into ACB, otherwise the damage would not only be to ACB but also affect the entire banking system.
Authorities have stepped in to find the mastermind behind the rumor, but the results have been hopeless. A piece of information comes from one person, spreads to another, and continues to hundreds, thousands of others. How can we find the first person to spread the news?
According to Mr. Tu, the existence of rumors comes from two sides. The awareness of consumers and investors is limited. On the other hand, the sellers, suppliers and speculators try to create information that is beneficial to themselves.
Not only in the stock market, rumors exist in all markets, from agricultural products to currencies, real estate... It is spread by word of mouth, on forums on the internet and even the press is considered a channel for spreading rumors. This can be seen in the recent increase in gold prices. Every day, the press reports how much the gold price in the domestic and world markets today has increased compared to yesterday. "The increase in gold prices in the market is true, but only reporting news without forecasting market trends makes the market hotter and creates conditions for investors to take advantage of it to push prices up even higher", Mr. Tu said.
Information transparency – the best way to deal with rumors
When asked what signs indicate a piece of information is a rumor, some investors and businesses said it is very difficult to distinguish and detect. Therefore, they do not care whether it is a rumor or not, but how to handle the information is important.
A stock investor said that she often visits online stock forums. There is a lot of real and fake information about prices and activities of companies with listed stocks or trading on the decentralized market. However, she only reads for information, and her decisions must be based on the financial reports of the listed companies and judgments about market trends.
As a stock investor and a member of the board of directors of a joint stock company in Hanoi, he talked about his experience in dealing with rumors. On the business side, whether listed or unlisted, there needs to be an information channel, through a media company or website, that regularly updates official information about the company's management and business activities. At the same time, activities that directly contact the public such as organizing mobile introductions, stock bidding, etc., both create a good image of the company and prevent and deal with rumors.
In the case of investors, if they encounter unusual information in the market, they must stay calm, consider and analyze information from many sides. They can contact directly with related parties such as enterprises and state management agencies to verify the authenticity of the information.
However, Mr. Ngoc often admits that this is only an ideal solution compared to the current situation. Many businesses are reluctant to contact the press to formalize information sources about their businesses. The same goes for state management agencies.
In fact, even when the press wants to learn about an issue of public concern, to work with responsible people, it must go through steps such as making a request, going through approval levels according to the correct principles, but in the market economy, information is invaluable and requires more speed than ever.
Post office
