Vietnam is days away from moving from Frontier to FTSE Russell’s Secondary Emerging Market classification on September 21, with foreign investors buying a net 1.42 trillion dong ($54.63 million) this week. SSI Research estimates FTSE-linked passive funds will purchase about $240 million of Vietnamese stocks in the first tranche on September 18, while inclusion will be implemented in four phases through 2027. FTSE has estimated that the upgrade could attract up to $6 billion, including about $1.5 billion in passive funds. The first tranche covers 27 stocks added to the FTSE Global All Cap Index, including Vingroup, FPT and Hoa Phat Group; VPBank, Vinhomes, FPT and Hoa Phat are expected to receive the largest ETF inflows. Vingroup could instead experience a $28 million net outflow as existing ETF selling outweighs upgrade-related demand. Despite this week’s buying, overseas investors have sold more than $3.6 billion year-to-date, and the VN-Index is up only about 1.4%, behind Thailand and Singapore. Investors are also watching foreign ownership limits, free-float constraints and potential central counterparty clearing infrastructure, which could support a future MSCI upgrade.