Foreign traders extend net-selling streak in Vietnam amid VND devaluation woes

Foreign investors net sold a total of VND3,639 billion ($144 million) worth of Vietnamese shares in the week ended November 8, extending their net-selling streak amid concerns over the dong devaluation.

They were net sellers on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange for a fifth week in a row, to the tune of VND3,469 billion ($137.25 million), including VND3,035 billion via order-matching transactions, exchange data showed.

In addition, they net sold VND151.2 billion ($6 million) on the Hanoi Stock Exchange and VND18.4 billion on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCom).

On the HoSE, Masan Group (MSN) and Vinhomes (VHM) were the two most net unloaded, at VND756 billion ($29.9 million) and VND700.2 billion, respectively. The next “victims” were tech company CMC Corporation (CMG), Vietcombank (VCB), and Saigon Securities (SSI).

On the opposite side, Techcombank (TCB) was the most bought this week, to the tune of VND139 billion ($5.5 million), followed by steelmaker Hoa Phat (HPG) with VND107 billion and VNDirect Securities (VND) with VND73 billion.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors net bought VND2,244 billion ($88.78 million), domestic individuals VND991.21 billion, and proprietary traders VND234.36 billion during the week.

The benchmark VN-Index closed the week down 2.33 points or 0.19% from the preceding week.

The average trading value on the three exchanges was VND14,959 billion ($591.85 million).

Foreign investors net sold VND66.17 trillion ($2.62 billion) worth of Vietnamese stocks on the HoSE in the first nine months of this year, partly because of concerns about Vietnam's “political transition” and local currency depreciation, the Vietnam-focused fund management firm VinaCapital said in a report last week.

In October, foreign traders net sold another VND9,837 billion ($389.2 million) on the bourse, HoSE data showed. The Vietnamese dong depreciated 2.8% month-on-month against the greenback, according to Finland-based PYN Elite Fund.

VinaCapital analysts reckoned that the U.S. Fed’s rate cut cycle and the Vietnamese government’s fresh efforts to upgrade the local stock market status will likely help bring foreign investors back into the stock market next year.