While Vietnamese investors are rushing to sell stocks out of fearsbrought on by current uncertainties, foreign investors are injectingmoney into Vietnamese stocks, anticipating a cheaper productsattractive, the English language news website VietNamNet Bridge reportedon May 19.

Vietnam National Television (VTV) has quoted sourcesas saying that foreign investors have spent over 1.5 trillion VND forVietnamese stocks in the last two weeks.

The sharp drops of stockprices are the main reason foreign investors are buying now. The VNIndex, after climbing to its highest peak of 610 points, in just onemonth has plunged 100 points, sinking to its deepest low so far thisyear. Shares in the market have seen their prices drop by an average of25-30 percent from last year’s record high levels.

Pham Ngoc Bichfrom Vietnam Holding, an investment fund, commented that it is theright time for investors to pick up bargains. “The shares were much moreexpensive three months ago,” Bich was quoted as saying.

Andforeign investors are continuing to buy, despite the securities indextumbling in the last 17 consecutive trading sessions as of late lastweek. The net purchase volume of foreigners reportedly once reached 300billion VND in a single day of trading.

PXP, a large foreigninvestment fund, is sticking to its plan to invest in the Vietnamesemarket. PXP Asset Management’s Director Kevin Snowball has remainedoptimistic about the investment deals, saying that the average P/E(price on equity) ratio of 12.5 in Vietnam is really “attractive”.

Thedirector said in local newspapers that foreign investors who arefollowing long term investment strategies all believe that the currentuncertainties will not last long. Therefore, they believe that now isthe right time to buy shares at bargain prices. He went on to say thathe plans to raise more funds in a couple of weeks to disburse onVietnamese stocks.

CNBC, the US television channel, has alsocommented recently that though the Vietnamese stock market has lost allthe points it accumulated so far this year, it is now the right time forinvestors to buy Vietnamese stocks.

David Kadarauch, AnalystDirector of ACB Securities, and an international expert, has also saidon VnExpress that international investors are pouring the most evermoney into Vietnam to hunt for cheap shares. In an interview given tothe newswire, he said foreign investors believe that China willultimately have to remove its oil rig, though the sovereignty disputewill not be resolved anytime soon. Despite that persisting uncertainty,foreign investors in general remain optimistic about Vietnam’s economyin long run.

They think they now have great opportunities to buy blue chips like FPT, IJC, BMP, MBB and HSG.

InMarch and April, the trading value per trading session on both theHanoi and Ho Chi Minh City bourses was mostly at between 100 million USDand over 200 million USD. In general, once the liquidity reaches theselevels at newly emerging markets, international investment funds paymore attention to the markets. This is the reason foreign investmentfunds have been visiting Vietnam more regularly than ever.

According to the news website, Kadarauch believes that a 700 point VN Index is within the reach this year or the next.-VNA