It is the ninth consecutive month that this group of investors have been net buyers.

In May, foreign investors made net purchases of VND4 trillion ($171 million) worth of shares in all three exchanges: Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX); and the Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM).

Over the last nine months, foreigners bought shares worth a cumulative VND21 trillion ($896 million) on HoSE, Vietnam’s main market which holds 90 percent of market cap across all exchanges.

M&A transactions were the main driver behind net buys in the past nine months, while transactions under the form of order matching experience net sells.

In May, foreigners recorded a net buy of VND5.3 trillion ($226 million) worth of shares in agreed share transfers, while selling a net total of VND1.6 trillion ($68 million) on the stock exchange via order matching.

The stocks most net bought by foreign investors were VIC shares of Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate Vingroup. Singaporean SK group purchased a 6.15 percent stake in Vingroup for close to $1 billion in late May.

In the last nine months, Vietjet’s VJC was the most sold stock, with a recorded net sell of VND574 billion ($24.48 million). More than VND769 billion ($32.8 million) came through put-through transactions.

Other major stocks, like VHM of Vietnam’s biggest dairy company Vinamilk; VHM of Vinhomes, Vingroup’s real estate arm; and HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group also saw strong selling pressure from foreign investors in the period.

Ending the last trading session in May, Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index closed at 959.88 points, down more than 2 percent from the previous month. Hanoi’s HNX-Index also fell nearly 3 percent to 104.35 points compared to the last session in April.