Foreign investors net sold more than VND 25,900 billion on HOSE in the first 3 months of the year, mainly taking profits of sharply increasing stocks last year.
Statistics of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) show that in the first quarter of the year, foreign investors spent more than VND 95,472 billion to buy stocks, bonds, fund certificates, ETFs and witnesses in 2024. In the opposite direction, they sold more than VND 121,410 billion.
So in the first 3 months of the year, foreign investors net sold about 25,938 billion VND, equivalent to more than 1 billion USD. This figure exceeded the net withdrawal of both 2023, 2020 and 20216.
If only the first quarters of the year, this is the highest level in the past 25 years since the stock market was established. When calculated, the net selling only is less than the second quarter/2024.
As of this weekend, the value offered more than 33,331 billion dong (about 1.28 billion USD). The trend has lasted continuously from February before.
Speak VnExpressMr. Truong Quang Binh, Deputy Director of research and analysis of Younga Vietnam Securities Company, said that foreign investors net sold a fear of US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff policy.
However, he noted that not only Vietnam, many countries in the region (except China) were sold very strongly. Compared to other countries, the withdrawal of foreign investors from Vietnamese stocks is still light.
Similarly, in a press conference on April 3, Mr. Ha Duy Tung, Vice Chairman of the State Securities Commission (SSC), said that the total net selling value of the first quarter accounted for only 1.9% of foreign investors – is considered a relatively small rate. According to him, the market is affected by the reciprocal tax of Mr. Donald Trump. This development may continue, depending on the implementation policy in the US and the administrative reaction in other countries, including Vietnam.
Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said that the activities of foreign investors always have a change, so there must be “time to withdraw, to put money in”. Particularly in the first quarter of the year, capital fluctuations are stronger than normal due to many factors, including investment strategies, fund policies and market psychology.
Investors are monitoring the electric board at a securities company in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Image: An Khuong
Regarding the transaction structure, foreign investors in the first quarter of the year discharge very strong goods at FPT, VNM, TPB, SSI, STB or FRT. Yuanta Vietnam Securities Experts explained that these are good background stocks and have increased very strongly in 2024. Therefore, foreign investors make profit and structure to other stock codes with growth stories.
In the opposite direction, from the beginning of the year until now, foreign investors collect into VCI, VIX, GVR, EIB, VGC or GEX shares. If they look broader, their trend is to net buying securities and real estate. With stock stocks, the story is the liquidity increased again, the new information technology system is about to operate and in the medium term has the ability to raise the market. With real estate stocks, the market script recovers in the second half of this year with many catalysts.
“Real estate and securities have increased very well since the beginning of the year. If the foreign investors do not buy, they will face the pressure to record the performance below the increase of the VN-Index,” Mr. Binh said and expect the story to restructure the portfolio that was completed in the second half of March.
It is forecasted that in the coming time, Yuanta Vietnam Securities experts believe that foreign investors will buy more when the new information technology system operates and Vietnam’s securities are upgraded according to FTSE Rusell. However, the cash flow of this group depends on the international macro situation and the fluctuations of the USD.
Over the past time, the power of US dollar was measured by DXY index decreased from 110 to 103-104. With the weakness of USD, Vietnam is expected more easily in regulating exchange rates.
Currently, the VND exchange rate with USD is still highly anchored mainly because the State Bank is maintaining a loose monetary policy to stimulate the economy. Thanks to the active move to pump money from the management agency, the stock market also has more motivation, especially in terms of liquidity. Since then, VN-Index has grown and attracts cash flow of foreign investors.
According to SSI’s statistics until the end of February, the strong selling momentum pushed the density of foreign investors owned in Vietnam’s stock market to 13.1% – the lowest since 2015. Plus the weakness of DXY, this analysts expect a net selling pressure from foreign investors to be limited in the coming period.
However, SSI noted that global investment flows are still giving priority to development markets and Vietnam needs to take more specific market development measures to attract foreign investors.