VIX Draws VND 596bn Foreign Net Buying as Banks Lead Seventh Week of HoSE Outflows

Overview

Foreign investors bought a net VND 596bn of VIX (HOSE) in the trading week of 2-6 November, the largest net inflow on HoSE, and the stock rose 11.25% to close at VND 13,350 on 7 November. The buying came despite a 93% year-on-year fall in VIX’s Q3 after-tax profit, and it ran against a seventh consecutive week of net foreign selling on the exchange, valued at roughly VND 965bn and concentrated in bank stocks MBB, VCB and ACB.

Key Facts

• VIX led HoSE foreign net buying at approximately VND 596bn for the week of 2-6 November, with weekly trading value of about VND 4,150bn, the highest on the exchange.
• VIX rose 11.25% over the week and closed at VND 13,350 on 7 November.
• VIX Q3 revenue from operations was about VND 2,048bn, but after-tax profit fell 93% year on year to VND 174bn.
• Proprietary trading lost about VND 95bn in Q3, following losses of roughly VND 82bn in Q1 and more than VND 205bn in Q2; the nine-month proprietary loss exceeded VND 381bn.
• The proprietary portfolio’s fair value at end-Q3 was more than VND 23,099bn, of which listed equities accounted for over VND 12,311bn.
• Other foreign net buys: MSN ~VND 330bn, HPG ~VND 261bn, CTG ~VND 229bn, VND ~VND 158bn, SHB ~VND 146bn.
• Heaviest foreign net sells: MBB ~VND 651bn, VCB ~VND 588bn, ACB ~VND 280bn; FPT was sold for ~VND 136.6bn.

What Happened

The weekly flow data, reported in Vietnamese financial media, shows VN-Index falling 16.2 points, or 0.93%, to 1,725.3 over the week, with liquidity up nearly 17% week on week to VND 84,101bn in total trading value. Foreign investors extended their selling streak on HoSE to a seventh week at about VND 965bn, equivalent to roughly USD 38.6m. The pressure centred on banks: MBB saw about VND 651bn of net selling, VCB nearly VND 588bn and ACB more than VND 280bn, even though all three reported nine-month profit growth. MBB’s nine-month pre-tax profit reached more than VND 30,518bn, up 31.9%, while VCB’s nine-month after-tax profit was VND 33,032bn, up 24%, though its bad-debt ratio rose to 0.71% from 0.58%.

VIX drew the opposite treatment. The securities firm’s Q3 results show revenue of about VND 2,048bn but after-tax profit of only VND 174bn, down 93% year on year, driven by proprietary trading losses that have now accumulated past VND 381bn over nine months. Its proprietary book remains large, with fair value above VND 23,099bn at end-Q3. The article does not identify the specific buyers behind the VIX inflow or disclose any shareholder-ownership filing.

Market Context

VIX trades on HOSE and closed at VND 13,350 on 7 November after the 11.25% weekly gain, with the highest weekly trading value on the exchange at about VND 4,150bn. The move contrasts with the broader market: VN-Index slipped below 1,700 intraweek before recovering, and VIC alone removed 10.43 points from the index, followed by VCB at -4.67 points, BID at -2.33, GAS at -1.95 and VPB at -1.86. Among other affected names, CTG closed at VND 31,850, HPG at VND 21,200 and MSN at VND 73,000 on 7 November.

Strategic Significance

For long-term holders, the VIX inflow is a flow signal, not an earnings signal. The company’s core earnings engine, proprietary trading, has lost money in each of the first three quarters, and the Q3 profit collapse shows how sensitive results are to mark-to-market moves on a VND 23,099bn portfolio. A foreign-led rally in a stock with deteriorating fundamentals can reflect index or portfolio rebalancing, block-trade positioning or sector rotation into securities names rather than a reassessment of VIX’s earnings power. The bank outflows carry a different message: MBB, VCB and ACB are still growing profit, but foreign investors are trimming exposure to the sector, and VCB’s rising bad-debt ratio (0.71% versus 0.58% at the start of the year) and ACB’s 3.2x jump in Q3 credit provisions give that de-risking a fundamental basis.

What to Watch

• VIX’s Q4 proprietary trading result and any change in the fair value of the VND 23,099bn portfolio.
• Whether foreign net buying in VIX persists beyond a single week or reverses once the flow event passes.
• Continued foreign selling in MBB, VCB and ACB, and whether it spreads to other banks such as BID, STB, HDB and VPB.
• VCB’s bad-debt trajectory after the ratio rose to 0.71% at end-September.
• Any HOSE foreign-ownership or major-shareholder filing disclosing the identity of the VIX buyers.