Many stock funds win big, reducing defensive sentiment

In May 2025, 19/35 equity funds reduced their cash holdings, up from 13/32 in April 2025, reflecting a less defensive sentiment among equity funds as the market recovers.

FiinGroup's report on investment fund performance in Vietnam in May 2025 shows that equity funds recorded a marked improvement in performance in May 2025, reaching the highest level in the last 12 months thanks to the strong recovery of the Vietnamese stock market (VN-Index increased by 8.7% in May).  

Some funds recorded high performance in May such as VanEck Vietnam ETF (12.9%), Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam (12.7%), Fubon FTSE Vietnam ETF (12.2%), DC Dynamic Securities (11.4%).

Performance of Equity Funds in May and 5 months 2025.

The average performance of equity funds reached 7.4% in May 2025, marking the highest level in the past 12 months and reflecting the strong recovery momentum of Vietnamese stocks in the short term.

However, by the end of May 2025, 38/66 funds still recorded negative performance, mainly in the open-end and closed-end fund groups, showing that the recovery level among funds is still uneven.  

In the passive fund group, performance continued to be positive across the board, especially ETF funds referenced by VN30 or indexes with large proportions in VIC, VHM, VRE, GEX - these are stocks with outstanding price increases in recent times. In contrast, the ETF group referenced by VNDIAMOND index recorded negative performance in the first 5 months of 2025 when this index decreased by nearly 5% due to the negative impact of stocks with high proportions such as PNJ, FPT, GMD, ACB . Accumulated in the first 5 months of 2025, the number of funds with negative performance still accounted for a large proportion, mainly in the open-end and closed-end funds. The performance of bond funds in May 2025 recovered strongly compared to April 2025.

In the bond fund group, May recorded a strong improvement in performance in bond funds compared to April when 17/23 funds had higher growth than the average 12-month savings interest rate (up from 12/23 funds in April).  

Notably, TCBF fund led with an outstanding performance of +1.5% in May, marking a positive reversal compared to the negative performance of -0.3% in April, mainly due to unrealized gains of more than VND128 billion from investments during the period, in contrast to the loss of more than VND112 billion recorded in the previous month. The main driving force came from the market value of many bond codes in the portfolio increasing again such as NVL122001 (+3.3%), VHM121025 (+2.4%), MML121021 (+1.8%).

In the first 5 months of 2025, the average performance of bond funds was 2.3%, lower than the same period last year (+2.5%) in the context that only 7/22 bond funds recorded higher performance compared to the same period.  

Notably, the DCIP Bond Fund (DCIP) grew by +2.3% thanks to its steady growth since the beginning of the year. This fund also recorded the strongest net inflow in May with nearly VND192 billion. The holdings of the DCIP fund are mostly Cash with a proportion of 63.5% while Bonds account for 36.5%.

Balanced funds also achieved high growth last month, with an average performance of 3.2%, a sharp improvement compared to April 2025 (-3.8%). In the first 5 months of 2025, the performance of the Balanced fund group was generally not really positive, with 5/12 funds recording negative returns.  

The highlight is the VinaCapital Bright Balanced Fund (VIBF) - with a NAV exceeding VND1,000 billion - which has led in performance, achieving a growth rate of 0.9%. This is also one of the few funds that has attracted stable net capital inflows since the beginning of 2025. The portfolio structure at the end of May showed that the proportion of stocks accounted for 45.3%, while bonds accounted for 12.6%, reflecting a flexible investment strategy to balance growth and defense in the context of a volatile market.

Regarding cash flow developments, net withdrawal pressure cooled down in May in both stock and bond funds. Specifically, the Stock fund group recorded a net withdrawal of VND 1.7 trillion, down by half compared to the net withdrawal in March 2025 (nearly VND 3.5 trillion). Cash flow deposited/withdrawn was quite balanced in May 2025 in the bond fund group, with the net withdrawal value decreasing to VND 26 billion from VND 800 billion in April 2025.

Net withdrawals decreased sharply in the passive fund group, but were unstable in the open-end fund group and continued to be net withdrawn in the closed-end fund group. In May 2025, capital flows reversed and were strongly withdrawn in the PYN Elite fund (-536 billion VND) and the DC Dynamic Securities fund (-200 billion VND) and vice versa, continued to be net inflows for the 19th consecutive month in the VinaCapital Modern Economic Fund (VMEEF) even though the fund's performance was -5.2% in the first 5 months of 2025, far lower than in 2024 (+34%).  

Capital withdrawal pressure eased significantly in the bond fund group in May 2025, with a slight difference in deposit/withdrawal cash flow of -26 billion VND, a sharp decrease compared to the net withdrawal scale in April (-849 billion VND). This improvement came from a sharp decrease in net withdrawal scale in TCBF fund and Bao Thinh Vinawealth fund (VFF) and a reversal of net inflow in 8/23 bond funds, most notably the DCIP Bond fund with a net inflow value of about 191.6 billion VND (previously a net withdrawal of nearly 164 billion VND in March - April 2025).

In May 2025, 19/35 equity funds reduced their cash ratio, up from 13/32 funds in April 2025. Notably, two funds under Dragon Capital, the Vietnam Selected Equity Fund (VFMVSF) and the DC Dynamic Securities Fund (DCDS), both recorded a reduction in their cash ratio for two consecutive months. This trend reflects a less defensive sentiment among equity funds, in the context of a recovering market.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nhieu-quy-co-phieu-thang-lon-giam-bot-tam-ly-phong-thu-d308004.html