Although Vietnam's stock market has hit record highs, foreign investors have been selling Vietnamese stocks this year. South Korean investors have net selling of $166 million worth of Vietnamese shares this year, according to data from South Korea Securities Custody.

Although Vietnamese stock market has hit record highs, foreign investors have been selling Vietnamese stocks this year.

According to data from South Korea Securities Custody Corporation (KSD), South Korean investors have net sold off $166 million worth of Vietnam stock this year. From 2017 to 2019, South Korean retail investors accounted for 16% of the net foreign inflows in Vietnam's stock market.

Analysts said that investors' risk appetite has moved from emerging markets like Vietnam to the United States due to strong returns on speculative assets in the United States.

"Bitcoin and U.S. stocks, especially the technology growth stock , have experienced huge fluctuations. Therefore, they attract investors more than Vietnam."

"Vietnam's stock trading is a bit complicated and returns are lagging behind."

Bloomberg said that compared with Vietnam's stock market, South Korean investors prefer Bitcoin and Tesla this year.

Vietnam stock market generally outflows this year

Since this year, foreign capital in Vietnam has almost all outflows except for one month.

Vietnam Index (VN Index) rose 33% this year, becoming the best performing index in Southeast Asia. But Bloomberg data shows that $2.7 billion worth of stocks were sold in Vietnam in 2021, setting a record.

Ho Chi Minh City Securities Institutions Clients Head Stephen McKeever said: "H Many foreign investors sell out just to make a profit. The market performed strongly and some investors have cashed out," he added that South Korean investors have turned their attention to U.S. technology stocks such as Tesla.

However, some institutional people believe that the long-term fundamentals of Vietnam stock market are positive, and foreign investors will return to Vietnam . They said that Vietnam's demographic structure, position in the Asian production chain and attractive valuations provide stocks with upside.

Ho Chi Minh City Securities McKeever said:

"We believe that the net selling of foreign investors in the past two years does not necessarily reflect the loss of confidence in Vietnam by foreign investors, and their confidence in Vietnam is still very optimistic."

"We call it an emotional paradox."

This article comes from Wall Street News, welcome to download the APP to view more