Vietnam's VN-Index Drops Over 15 Points, Vingroup Stocks Drag Market Down; Foreign Selling Surges

The Vietnamese stock market saw the VN-Index fall over 15 points in the afternoon session on September 23rd, retreating to near the 1,800-point mark. The session began with minor fluctuations around the reference point, with the index even seeing a slight increase of 5.7 points in the morning. However, the afternoon session turned bearish, with the index continuously declining and briefly dipping below 1,800 points before closing at 1,801.65, down 15.3 points or 0.8%. The VN30-Index, representing the top 30 stocks, also declined by 10.5 points (0.5%) to 1,954.91, with 22 stocks losing ground and only 8 gaining. The HNX-Index and UPCoM-Index experienced more modest declines. Stocks of Vingroup-affiliated companies were the primary drag on the VN-Index. Vingroup (VIC) itself dropped 3.2% to close at 236,000 VND, down from an intra-day high of 246,400 VND, taking 12.5 points off the index. Vinhomes (VHM) fell 1.7%, contributing 2 points to the decline, while Vinpearl (VPL) lost 3.2%, subtracting another 1 point. Collectively, these three Vingroup-related stocks were responsible for a 15.5-point drop in the VN-Index. Other major contributors to the index's decline included Vietcombank (VCB), down 0.7% (-0.7 points), along with GAS (-1.4%), Masan Consumer (MCH) (-1.2%), and Vietinbank (CTG) (-0.8%), each taking between 0.4 to 0.6 points off the index. PVT saw the steepest decline among liquid stocks, falling 4.1%. On the upside, some banking stocks provided support. Techcombank (TCB) rose 2.6%, contributing 1.2 points to the VN-Index, making it the largest positive contributor. TCB also led the market in trading volume with 1,289 billion VND in matched orders. Other banking stocks like LPB (+2.2%), MSB (+4.8%), HDB (+1.6%), and TPB (+3.5%) also saw gains. Foreign investors turned net sellers on September 23rd, offloading a net 1,123 billion VND across the three exchanges. This marked the largest net selling volume since September 3rd. On HOSE alone, foreign investors sold a net 1,128 billion VND. Banking stocks were the main target of foreign selling, with a net sale of 708 billion VND on HOSE. VPBank (VPB) saw the heaviest foreign selling at 289 billion VND, followed by ACB (141.7 billion VND), TCB (86 billion VND), VCB (66.9 billion VND), and CTG (57.6 billion VND). Despite being the largest drag on the index, VIC was the top stock bought by foreign investors, with net purchases of 96.7 billion VND. TPB (42.9 billion VND), DCM (30.1 billion VND), and VPI (24.4 billion VND) also saw net foreign buying. This trading day was the third since Vietnam's reclassification to a secondary emerging market by FTSE Russell on September 21st. In the preceding two sessions, foreign investors were net sellers by 683 billion VND on September 21st and net buyers by 74 billion VND on September 22nd. Market analysts suggest that economic growth prospects and public investment disbursement are supportive factors for the stock market in the fourth quarter of 2026. However, investors are advised to monitor variables such as interest rates, exchange rates, oil prices, and bond maturity pressures.