A passerby looking at a stock trading board in HoSE's office. Photo thoibaotaichinhvietnam.vn

HÀ NỘI — Despite gains in the stock market, foreign investors still continued to flee. 

In May, they net sold more than VNĐ10.1 trillion (US$438.86 million) on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the largest monthly value.

As of May 28, the net sell value from foreign investors was up to over VNĐ24 trillion (US$1.04 billion) on HoSE.

The move was due to cheaper capital flows in developed countries, said Lê Xuân, a senior trader.

"There was a capital shift from emerging markets to the US market as it continuously hit new records," Xuân said.

Besides limitations of some companies, banks forced them to reduce their foreign ownership ratio, leading to outflows of foreign capital, she added. 

While active funds, especially frontier funds, were major net sellers in the first few months, ETFs started to net sell in May. 

Most of big ETFs in the market witnessed capital outflows in May, such as FTSE Vietnam ETF, SSIAM VNFin Lead ETF, VFMVN30 ETF and Kim Kindex Vietnam VN30 ETF, with a total net value of nearly VNĐ1.6 trillion (US$69.5 million).

Of which, FTSE Vietnam ETF's capital outflow was the largest at VNĐ742 billion (US$32.2 million). It was followed by South Korea-based KIM Kindex Vietnam VN30 ETF with a net value of VNĐ324 billion (US$14.1 million), resulting in a total of VNĐ2 trillion leaving the fund since the beginning of the year. 

SSIAM VNFin Lead ETF and VFMVN30 ETF also recorded a capital outflow of VNĐ119 billion (US$5.17 million) and VNĐ188 billion (US$8.17 million), respectively.

Meanwhile, VFMVN Diamond ETF was the best exchange trade fund in attracting capital in May, with a value of VNĐ38 billion (US$1.65 million).

Việt Nam's stock market finished higher on Monday, boosted by bank stocks. The benchmark VN-Index rose 0.57 per cent to 1,328.05 points, the highest since the stock market was founded. 

The index jumped 18.52 per cent compared to earlier this year. Analysts from securities firms expected that it is likely to move higher to 1,350 - 1,400 points. VNS