The Vietnamese stock markets showed positive development in the past week with four strong gaining sessions.
The US Federal Reserve’s suggestion that it will slow interest rate hikes, the 90-day trade truce between Washington and Beijing agreed on in Argentina and signs of rebounding oil prices supported a strong week for the stock market in Viet Nam.
The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged up 0.39 per cent to close at 958.59 points last Friday.
It had climbed 3.45 per cent in total last week.
The minor HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange lost 0.03 per cent last Friday to close at 107.14 points.
The index increased 2.21 per cent last week.
Trading volume rose significantly last week, reaching nearly 245 million shares on average in each session, worth VND5.2 trillion (US$221 million).
The figures were up 18.6 per cent in volume and 1.3 per cent in value compared to the previous week.
The first trading week of December witnessed a strong rebound of the indexes. The VN-Index broke the important resistance level of 940 points and easily approached 960 points. However, strong selling pressure meant it was unable to cross that threshold.
Both the VN-Index and the HNX-Index retreated last Thursday, perhaps due to the arrest of smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada for possible extradition to the US. According to Reuters, the move threatened to strain an already brittle US-China trade relationship.
The incident came as Washington and Beijing prepared for talks aimed at resolving a bitter trade spat.
But pillar stocks gained sharply, rescuing indexes from falling and creating the basis for the overall rise of the market. Vincom Retail (VRE), Vinhomes (VHM), Vinamilk (VNM), Masan Group (MSN), Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Phu Nhuan jewelry (PNJ) were notable market supporters.
The market’s rally was also due to the good performance of banking stocks. Military Bank (MBB), Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB) and Vietinbank (CTG) all gained more than 5 per cent last week.
Petroleum was also one of the largest contributing sectors. World oil prices soared more than 5 per cent in the first session of the week, helping oil and gas companies such as PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) and PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD) all hit the ceiling price in the first trading session of the week.
However, the movement of oil prices in the middle of the week was quiet, causing the stocks to fluctuate within a narrow band in the following sessions.
High liquidity, together with the foreign buyers, helped the positive trend come back.
However, investors should wait for the VN-Index to pass the 960-point mark, and then they can start to purchase.
According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), the market is predicted to keep growing this week. The index may experience some corrections early this week before reverting to its short-term uptrend.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Lan, head of brokerage at Agribank Securities Co (Agriseco), the market is showing a stable upward trend with relatively strong buying demand and is somewhat more active than other markets in the region.
There were differences between the movements of the Vietnamese market and regional and global markets which indicated that the local market is becoming less dependent on the global market, she said.
According to MB Securities JSC analyst Ngo Quoc Hung, if market liquidity is maintained at last week’s levels and positive information is released, the market will continue to rally. — VNS