Vietnam Holding Ltd (LSE:VNH)'s portfolio increased in value by 1.9% in August in spite of the impact of the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus on the country’s exports and retail sales.
Manager Dynam Capital said the performance was helped by some profit-taking in the banking sector, which had rallied in the last few quarters but has since become more uncertain in the short term given the bad debts building up in some loan portfolios.
Brokerage firms also did well as domestic retail investors trading at home pushed daily volumes up to US$1.5bn per day or five times the levels in 2019.
The brokerage sector should continue to outperform given positive developments in the equity market, said Dynam, with high market liquidity and lower funding cost for margin lending activities.
The fund's NAV is up 42.6% this year, leading the pack of Vietnam focussed funds, Dynam added.
Longer-term, the manager added that urbanisation is one of the key themes and the communal mindset of Vietnamese citizens provides “unmissable opportunities as responsible investors with well-defined environmental, social and governance selection criteria”.
The statement also noted that at the EGM on 31 August 2021, shareholders approved the market Purchase of 30% of the fund's shares pursuant to the tender offer announced on 3 August.