(June 16): Vietnamese shares saw the biggest daily foreign inflows in nearly six years, in a sign of renewed global investor interest in the Southeast Asian market as the Middle East tensions eased.
Foreign investors bought a net US$160.4 million worth of Vietnamese stocks on Monday, the largest of its kind since Sept 10, 2020, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Global investors’ purchases in Vietnam were part of their broader buying spree in several Asian emerging markets such as Malaysia and the Philippines, after the US and Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It offered some relief to a market that is otherwise on course for a fourth consecutive year of foreign outflows due to concerns about concentration risks and oil-induced inflationary pressures.
“De-escalation in the Middle East and Vietnam’s own underperformance have created a textbook re-entry set up for foreign capital,” said Quynh Cao, head of institutional business at VNDirect Securities Corp. “Positioning was already tight and it doesn’t take much to flip that.”
Despite the latest inflow, foreign investors have sold a net US$2.6 billion worth of Vietnamese equities so far this year, adding to the record US$4.8 billion they withdrew in 2025 amid heightened geopolitical tensions and a rotation towards faster-growing markets.
The Iran war and elevated energy prices also have overshadowed FTSE Russell’s decision to upgrade Vietnam to the emerging-market status from the frontier-market category.
See also: MSCI says low free-float among many hurdles for Vietnam stocks
While the latest inflow rekindled hope of more sustained buying, a lot hinges on the actual implementation of a peace deal on Iran and the outlook of oil prices.
“The caveat is durability — a fragile deal that keeps oil prices elevated reintroduces exactly the inflation and FX pressure that drove foreigners out in the first place,” Quynh said.
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