Foreign players’ net purchases of equity on Việt Nam’s stock exchanges approximated VNĐ1.97 trillion (US$84.4 million) in the month. – Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI – Foreign investors bought more Vietnamese stocks than they sold in January, snapping a five-month streak as net buyers.

Foreign players’ net purchases of equity on Việt Nam’s stock exchanges approximated VNĐ1.97 trillion (US$84.4 million) in the month. They bought and sold more than VNĐ20.6 trillion worth of Vietnamese shares, 15.68 per cent of the market’s total transactions.

Targeted stocks in the month included PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution (PGD), Mobile World Corporation (MWG), Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Vietinbank (CTG), and dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM). Net foreign buys of the five stocks were VNĐ1.02 trillion, VNĐ588 billion, VNĐ433 billion, VNĐ170.6 billion, and VNĐ166 billion, respectively.

The change to net buyers showed foreign players' rising confidence in the nation’s economy and investment opportunities in its stock market, especially amid global stock market volatility.

Securities firms have forecast a brighter outlook for the local stock market this year. They said Việt Nam would have more opportunities to lure foreign capital due to robust economic growth, and the revised securities law which is expected to help as well.

Experts from the SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) said foreign trading activities will increase this year thanks to many supporting factors, especially exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Besides, the global provider of benchmarks, analytics and data solutions FTSE Russell is considering upgrading Việt Nam to secondary emerging market status from a frontier market. However, Việt Nam needs to work more to meet criteria on payment required for its status upgrade.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE), VN-Index’s VNX Allshare, and the VN30-Index finished January at 936.62, 816.56 and 848.63 points, decreasing 2.54, 3.43, and 3.46 per cent, respectively. The local market moved sideways with the global market, which has been hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak. – VNS