Vietnam is on the cusp of joining the emerging-markets club, and stocks have notched their biggest rally in years, but foreigners have been sellers and say investing is handicapped by tariff risks, ownership limits and one firm¡¯s dominance of the index.

That could hold back global capital from Southeast Asia¡¯s fastest-growing economy at a time when money is flowing to smaller markets, even after a likely bump from FTSE Russell¡¯s upgrade of Vietnam¡¯s market from frontier into secondary emerging status, expected to be effective from September.

A confirmation of the upgrade could come in March or April, when FTSE publishes its review of Vietnam¡¯s regulatory progress.