Current Portfolio Weightage

Holdings Based on Company HQs (not listing exchange location)

April 24 note (exchanges: HOSE, HNX, UpCom): Vietnam is updating its regulatory framework and market makers' technical requirements to ensure all stakeholders have the capabilities for a smooth transition into the new market system made by the Korean Stock Exchange (KRX). KRX system is anticipated to go live on May 5th this year and is expected to shorten latency and time to execute/complete orders. Investors expect this transition will open opportunities for financial institutions to expand their product offerings. While my sentiment toward the market remains moderately bullish, my concerns regarding this lower friction are whether it will increase daily volatility and capital flight risk, considering strong herd trading behaviors. This move will undoubtedly require Vietnam's State Securities Committee to strengthen domestic market fundamentals further to reap the benefits of this innovation and avoid the associated risks.

April 22 note (exchanges: HOSE, HNX, UpCom): VN-Index Drops Amid Strong Selling Pressure (my guess is due to the US's solar import tariffs from Southeast Asia).

• The morning trading session opened with a slight drop, as the VN-Index created a 5-point gap down after the ATO phase. By 11:30 AM, the VN-Index fell by 18 points at its lowest as selling pressure intensified. However, demand to "buy low quickly stepped in, helping the index narrow its losses. 

• The market showed some signs of recovery in the afternoon session. The VNI rebounded from its lowest level at 1,138 points but failed to recover the loss by the end of the session. Amid this context, several retail sector stocks such as FRT and MWG bucked the trend and posted positive gains.

• At the close of April 22nd, the VN-Index stood at 1,197.1 points, down 10.0 points (equivalent to 0.8%). Market liquidity reached 1,702 million matched shares, with a total trading value of approximately VND 34,119 billion. 

• The market breadth tilted towards bearish, with 132 gainers versus 400 decliners. The Real Estate and Chemicals sectors contributed the most to the VN-Index’s decline. Other sectors with notable price drops included Financials and Oil & Gas (Energy).

• On the HOSE,  sectors with the highest foreign investors' net purchases are Retail, Natural Resources, and Financials. The highest net sold are companies within the Information Technology, Food & Beverage (Consumer Staples), and Oil & Gas (Energy). Foreign investors net sold VND 4,160 billion, mainly focusing on: 

  • FPT (Info Tech focused Multi-sector Conglomerate, VND 123 billion), KBC (RE, VND 106 billion), VNM (Consumer Discretionary, VND 60 billion), MSN (Multi-sector Conglomerate, VND 43 billion), FTS (VND 38 billion). 

• Tickers with top net buys by foreign investors included:

  • HPG (Industrials, VND 213 billion), MWG (Consumer Discretionary, VND 184 billion), STB (Financials, VND 170 billion), VIX (Financials, VND 96 billion), MBB (Financials, VND 94 billion)

Another noteworthy characteristic of Vietnam businesses I forgot to mention is that many listed companies are conglomerates. This nature, along with local regulations on earnings report—or lack thereof—will undoubtedly make it more difficult for foreign investors to value these companies and negatively impact their prices (companies such as FPT, VIC, BCM, FLC, etc).

April 18 note (exchanges: HOSE, HNX, UpCom): Quite frankly, the Vietnamese market has seen a sharp rise in volatility.  TCBI estimates the VNIndex's current Greed & Fear index is at 26, meaning the market is leaning toward bearish sentiment. While local investors suggest that the real estate market is returning to a BAU scenario, I believe the sector is still highly overvalued (especially in major cities) and illiquid. In the backdrop, while the VND:USD exchange rate has stabilized this week compared to the start of the tariff uncertainties, the currency value has dropped by 1.13% since April 3rd. Ironically, burdensome regulations and Vietnam's State Securities Committee's prohibition of short selling are currently providing the market with stability. That is not to say there is no legal loophole to circumvent these regulations. However, I am not doing it due to the capital and time-intensive nature of these strategies.

• Bullish tickers: TCB, VPB, DBD, IMP, PNJ

• Bearish tickers: NSC, HPG, VJC

April 08 note (portfolio-wide): The investment portfolio is currently money-heavy due to uncertainties (macroeconomics and personal-wise LOL). As I'm shifting toward being more risk-averse, I am considering moving my non-productive money holdings into reserve-quality commodities.

Strategy Summary