Foreign net buying strengthens as upgrade-related inflows emerge, while VN-Index faces mixed performance

Momentum for the VN-Index has not improved after the midweek rally, but the ability to sustain dispersion among stocks is a positive signal. Foreign capital also continued to support the market: measured by net order-matching purchases, foreigners posted a third consecutive net buying session, while the number of overseas institutional accounts opened in March rose to the highest level in four years.

VN-Index ends week modestly higher

The VN-Index continues to struggle around the 100-day moving average (MA100). The index finished the week up 0.77%, equivalent to 13.32 points.

Price strength remained heavily dependent on bellwether stocks. VIC rose 1.68%, TCB gained 4.37%, and GAS increased 2.93%, contributing 7.5 points—more than half of the index’s total gain.

Market breadth and liquidity skew

On HoSE, market breadth ended the day with dispersion: 164 gainers and 144 decliners. Of these, 67 stocks rose more than 1% and 53 fell more than 1%, indicating the market did not tilt decisively toward either side and that most stocks traded within a narrow range.

Money flow was more uneven. The strongest-performing group accounted for 27.4% of total matched value on HoSE, while the deepest decliners accounted for only 6.7%. The positive aspect was that capital pushed prices higher in the stronger names, and near-term selling pressure did not drag prices down much.

Weak stocks saw limited volume; reversals were liquid

Only about 20 of the weakest stocks recorded meaningful trading volume, from 10 billion VND upward. Among the largest trades, CII fell 1.85% on 421.2 billion VND, PDR dropped 1.8% on 198.2 billion, BVH declined 4.26% on 122.7 billion, and HHV fell 1.16% on 107.3 billion.

These stocks also showed wide price declines from their peaks, suggesting liquidity accompanied price reversals. For example, CII slid 3.64% in the next session, PDR fell 3.81%, and HHV dropped 3.04%.

Broader buying appeared in other names

Conversely, money continued to move strongly in many other stocks. Nearly 20 stocks posted liquidity above 100 billion VND alongside price gains above 1%. Blue chips were among the active gainers, including VIC (+1.68%), TCB (+4.37%), VNM (+1.62%), GAS (+2.93%), and PLX (+4.18%).

Within the VN30 basket, 11 members contributed to the best-performing group, with the basket up 0.69%.

Midcap buying was also evident, with EIB (+2.21%), BSR (+7%), MSB (+5.37%), DCM (+3.44%), PVT (+3.69%), DPM (+2.11%), and PC1 (+1.86%)—all with liquidity above 100 billion VND.

Foreign investors turn net buyers

The session’s highlight was foreign investors recording a net buy of 840.6 billion VND on HoSE. The top net-bought stocks were TCB (+217.9 billion VND), HPG (+179.2 billion), MBB (+100.2 billion), VNM (+94.0 billion), MSN (+71.7 billion), BSR (+70.7 billion), DXG (+54.6 billion), VCB (+51.9 billion), NVL (+50.9 billion), and VCI (+50.7 billion).

Matched-order data points to early improvement

The data indicate foreigners are returning to net buying when measured by matched orders. For example, the previous day they were net sellers across the market by 2,473 billion VND, but net buyers on matched orders by 778 billion VND. The midweek session showed a similar pattern: net sellers of 602 billion VND, but matched-order net buyers of 580 billion VND.

Block trades are typically special and large, but not frequent, and they are 1:1, meaning counterparties match directly and the trades do not materially affect daily stock prices.

Account openings reinforce the foreign signal

Foreign net-buying action is viewed as an early positive signal, alongside Vietnam’s stock market upgrade by FTSE, which was confirmed three days earlier.

In March, Vietnam Securities Depository data showed foreign investors opened 393 individual investor accounts and 34 institutional accounts. While these figures are not large relative to domestic investors, they were the biggest within the foreign segment in four years for institutions and the highest in five years for individuals.