Has the “turning point” arrived after a long streak of net selling?
According to trading statistics from September 23-27, foreign investors withdrew nearly VND 550 billion net from the Vietnamese stock market, with HOSE seeing nearly VND 530 billion in net selling. However, the actual foreign exchange trading balance was impacted by a sudden agreement to sell VIB shares during the September 24 session, related to the divestment activities of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
Excluding the exceptional case of VIB (-VND 2,665 billion), in fact, foreign capital has poured into the market more than VND 2,000 billion through matching orders.
Meanwhile, observing the activities of foreign capital in the past two weeks, there have been 8 out of 10 sessions with the presence of foreign money. In total, in two weeks, foreign investors bought a net of over VND 3,000 billion through matching orders.
Going deeper into the trading structure, the 5 stocks that were most bought by foreign investors in the past two weeks were SSI (+VND 831 billion), FPT (+VND 532 billion), TCB (+ 448 billion), TPB (+309.7 billion), and HCM (+281 billion), all benefiting to some extent. Of which, TPB surged 12% in two weeks, while SSI and TCB both gained more than 9%.
 Top net buying and selling of foreign investors in the 2-week period from 16-27/9.
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Meanwhile, the 5 stocks that were heavily sold were VIB (-VND 2,665 billion), HPG (-VND 474 billion), VPB (-VND 437.7 billion), VCG (-VND 164 billion), and VIX (-115.4 billion). No codes experienced unfavorable developments. In fact, the two stocks VIB and VPB both increased by more than 7% in just two weeks of trading.
This shows that domestic investment capital is no longer hesitant about stocks that are still under pressure from foreign funds. As for the positive codes, they are simultaneously benefiting “double” from both domestic and foreign capital inflows.
With 8 out of the last 10 sessions seeing net buying, the market may be showing signs of a “turning point” after the Fed officially reversed the cycle of tightening monetary policy.
Foreign investors actually bought a net in September 2024 if the agreement on VIB is excluded.
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The picture of foreign investment activities may become clearer from October 2024, as September 2024 was the eighth consecutive month of net selling in the Vietnamese stock market. However, the intensity of net selling from the beginning of September 2024 has narrowed down to a low level in the selling streak, at around VND 1,600 billion.
The story of market upgrade is regaining its relevance
For capital flows from ETF funds as well as active funds, the Fed’s rate cut is considered a positive factor supporting the reversal of the net capital withdrawal trend.
In fact, even before the Fed reversed its monetary policy, selling pressure from foreign investors had weakened significantly as the supply from speculative funds was no longer abundant.
Mr. Nguyen The Minh, Director of Individual Customer Analysis at Yuanta Vietnam Securities Company, said that after the Fed cut interest rates by 0.5%, it created many positive effects, such as easing exchange rate pressure, making the Vietnamese stock market more attractive in terms of valuation.
Especially, the issuance of Circular 68 by the Ministry of Finance will improve the trading frequency of foreign investors and will be the key to helping FTSE Russell upgrade the Vietnamese market to the Secondary Emerging Market group.
The effectiveness of the implementation for ETFs to officially add Vietnamese stocks to their portfolios can be seen in 2025. However, Mr. Minh believes that whether FTSE considers it in October 2024 or March 2025, it will have a positive impact on the market.
Investors expect the upgrade to an emerging market to attract capital inflows from ETFs of about $1.5 billion, not including capital from active funds.
According to BVSC, the Vietnamese stock market will be considered for an upgrade at the earliest in March 2025 – after the final assessments on the “Failed Trade Costs” criterion.
Source: BVSC.
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Currently, 7 out of 9 groups of criteria for upgrading from a frontier market to an emerging secondary market of FTSE have been met. The two criteria that Vietnam has not met the requirements of FTSE are:
✓ The “Settlement Cycle (DvP)” criterion is rated as “restrictive” because, at present, market practice requires checking to ensure sufficient funds before executing a transaction.
✓ The criterion “Payment – Costs related to failed transactions” is not rated because, by default, the market does not experience failed transactions.
After the Ministry of Finance issued Circular 68, Vietnam has come closer to meeting the above two criteria of FTSE. In the upcoming assessment on October 8, 2024, BVSC believes that FTSE will recognize more positively about Vietnam’s upgrade process.
