Vietnam Insight

Highlights:

The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed a mechanism to gradually incorporate previously unaccounted electricity costs into power prices, providing a basis to resolve EVN’s accumulated losses. According to EVN’s update on May 14, the parent company’s accumulated losses are expected to narrow to around VND 5.611 trillion by the end of 2025.

President Trump and President Xi Jinping reportedly reached a new series of agreements following talks in Beijing on May 15, focusing on trade and bilateral cooperation.

The State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SSC) aims to accelerate equitization alongside stock exchange listings to improve the quality of state-owned enterprises.

Assessment: Although the market has surpassed its historical peak, most individual stocks continue to move primarily sideways without meaningful structural changes. As Q1 earnings season and annual general meetings gradually pass, “Sell in May” sentiment may emerge. Domestic and international news flow remains broadly positive, but still lacks the momentum needed to trigger strong capital inflows; most news events only create short-term impacts on specific sectors directly related to the information.

Technical view: The VN-Index closed the week at 1,921.6 points (+6.23 points; +0.33%) on the weekly chart. The market continued to maintain its upward momentum, albeit at a slower pace, and officially broke above its previous all-time high. However, market breadth remains weak, with only around 38% of stocks trading above their MA50. The banking sector, which usually plays a leading role in previous rallies, along with many other large-cap stocks excluding VIC, continues to trade mostly sideways.

Investment idea: At this stage, investors may focus on stocks with solid sideways accumulation structures and strong earnings growth instead of concentrating solely on the movement of the VN-Index, which is heavily influenced by the VIC group. Many stocks across sectors such as real estate, banking, construction materials, retail, and securities continue to show healthy accumulation patterns and resilient business performance.