Foreign investors net sell Vietnamese stocks for 4 straight weeks

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index has fallen below 1,200 points with foreign investors net sellers for four consecutive weeks.

The Vietnamese stock market recorded strong corrections during the September 18-22 week, especially in the week-ending session when investors sold off securities and real estate stocks.

The VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), fluctuated strongly in the first three sessions of the week as investors remained cautious. Although there was a recovery session in the middle of the week, selling pressures rose continuously, sending the major index to fall below the 1,200 mark.

In last Friday session, the VN-Index lost nearly 40 points at one time, but the positive recovery of some blue chips, especially VCB of Vietcombank and BID of BIDV bank, stopped the fall and helped it return to the 1,190-point territory. Meanwhile, a sell-off of securities stocks saw some hitting their floor prices.

The VN-Index ended the week with a drop of 2.8% or 34.31 points from the previous week to 1,193.05 points. The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) stood at 252.76 points, down 1.34%.

VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes, VIC of conglomerate Vingroup, and HPG of steel maker Hoa Phat had the most negative impact on the VN-Index, with VHM taking away more than 2.3 points from this index. Meanwhile, VCB, BID and GAS of PV Gas were the most positive influencers, with VCB alone contributing more than 3.4 points.

Liquidity on HoSE remained high with an average trading volume of nearly 1 billion shares per session.

Foreign investors were net sellers on the major bourse for the 4th consecutive week to the tune of nearly VND1.65 trillion ($67.7 million). They mainly sold steel, banking, financial services, and securities tickers.

The securities group saw the most negative developments with sudden strong selling pressures in the last sessions of the week. The biggest losers were VIX of VIX Securities (-9.44%), SHS of Saigon-Hanoi Securities (-9.18%), VFS of Viet First Securities (-8.90%), and BSI of BIDV Securities (-8.78%).

Most banking stocks also traded poorly, including EIB of Eximbank down 8.94%, LPB of LPBank 8.57%, VIB of Vietnam International Bank 5.8%, and VPB of VPBank 5.76%.

Some stocks in the real estate industry fell sharply, including VHM (-4.38%), VIC (-4.21%), BCM of Becamex IDC (-1.56%), and VRE of Vincom Retail (-2.66%).

In contrast, stocks of export firms performed positively, notably ANV of Nam Viet Corp., which gained 15.29%; IDI of I.D.I International Development & Investment, up 10.79%; CMX of Camimex Group, up 8.84%; VHC of Vinh Hoan Corp., up 8.55%; CSV of South Basic Chemicals, up 16.06%; and DGC of Duc Giang Chemicals, up 7.93%.

Brokerage firm Saigon-Hanoi Securities (SHS) believes that the market is in a correction period that’s likely to see strong fluctuations in the short-term. The movement may last longer and is necessary for the market to accumulate internal strength for the next uptrend, it says. It advises short-term investors to be cautious now and wait for more reliable recovery signals.

Another broker, Vietcombank Securities (VCBS), advises investors to take advantage of recovery sessions to reduce the proportion of stocks that have fallen below the support zone, proactively restructure their portfolios to maximize short-term risk management instead of early bottom fishing.