An additional US$500 million in foreign capital has flowed into Viet Nam's stock market since the beginning of this year.

While most foreign indirect investment has focused on listed shares, stocks and unlisted companies have also attracted investors, said the director of the customer development department at Saigon Securities Inc, Pham Ngoc Bich.


"In the eyes of foreign investors, Viet Nam's stock market is more attractive than those of many other emerging markets, including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Thailand," Bich said.


"The trend of foreign net buys from early this year indicates the more optimistic view of foreign investors towards Viet Nam's market compared to the same period last year," VinaCapital chief economist Alan T Pham told the newspaper Dau Tu Chung Khoan (Securities Investment).


Recent evaluations showed that Viet Nam's stock market enjoyed the strongest growth among emerging markets, helping increase foreign interest, Pham said. In addition to disbursed capital, there was also a pool of capital from major funds awaiting opportunities to participate in the market.


"This suggests that the increase in foreign disbursement will continue in both the short and medium term," he said.


In a recent report, HSBC attributed the increase in foreign capital inflows to the country's improved growth and inflation prospects, while Vietnamese assets were viewed as attractively undervalued. HCM City Securities Co deputy director Trinh Hoai Giang agreed that the brighter economic outlook this year, with prospects for lower inflation and interest rates, was a primary factor driving foreign investment in the domestic market.