Equity funds triumph in market on stock investments

Numerous equity investment funds outperformed the stock market's benchmark VN-Index by a significant margin in September, according to a Fiingroup's report on investment fund activities in Vietnam.

Last month, 87% of equity funds (55 out of 61 funds surveyed) outperformed the VN-Index, the report showed.

Leading the pack were exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like SSIAM VNFINLEAD and KIM Growth VN30 ETF, with respective performances of 5% and 4.4%, attributed to their stock portfolios in the banking and securities sectors.

Other notable funds such as United Vietnam Opportunity Fund and Techcom Banking and Finance Equity Fund (TCFIN) also posted performances exceeding 4%.

Despite this, overall performance dipped in September compared to August due to less favourable market conditions.

Most funds saw lower performance levels amid reduced liquidity for the third consecutive month, hitting the lowest point in almost a year. Individual investors were actively selling off without any particular sector leading the market.

Since the beginning of 2024, the VN-Index has risen by 14%, with 38 out of 61 equity investment funds recording growth surpassing the index.

Standout performers included the VinaCapital Modern Economy Equity Fund (VMEEF) with a 33.3% surge, the DCVFMVN Diamond ETF (FUEVFVND) with a 30.5% rise and the Long-Term Growth Fund of Vietnam (VLGF) with a 28.6% increase. These top-performing funds all shared FPT Corporation (FPT) and Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) in their key holdings.

Additionally, several other funds achieved impressive performances over 20%, such as PYN Elite, VFMVF1, VFMVFS, VESAF, E1VFVN30 and FUEKIV30.

In the realm of bond investment funds, 17 out of 23 surveyed funds have showcased profits that outshine the interest rates offered by savings deposits.

Standing out in September is the Bao Viet Bond Fund (BVBF), marking a 1.1% increase - the fund's most impressive monthly performance in 2024 thus far. BVBF's asset portfolio includes bonds issued by VietinBank (CTG) and Agribank.

Conversely, the Techcom Bond Fund (TCBF) struggled with a small performance rate of 0.3%, largely due to its heavy concentration in corporate bonds from Masan, Vingroup and Novaland.

However, over the first nine months, TCBF emerges as the top-performing bond investment fund, boasting a robust 11.9% return, surpassing the second-place Lighthouse Capital Bond Fund with an 8.9% return.

In contrast, TCBF recorded its eighth consecutive month of net capital outflows, totalling 6.9 trillion VND (277.7 million USD), representing 62% of the total outflow value among bond funds over the past year.

Encouragingly, capital inflows into the Vietnamese stock market via investment funds took on a positive tone last month, with net inflows surpassing 1.1 trillion VND following nine consecutive months of outflows.

Capital flows retained their upward trajectory in open-end funds, amounting to 655 billion VND, while closed-end funds and ETFs experienced outflows, albeit at a moderated pace compared to previous periods.

Investment capital flowing into bond funds maintained its positive trend in September, reaching 2.1 trillion VND, reflecting an 18.3% growth compared to the previous month. This marks the tenth consecutive month of favourable net inflows, hitting the highest level since the start of 2024./.