Vietnamese shares went through a rough trading week with rising investor caution. However, the market is expected to move up this week when listed companies announce third-quarter earnings.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.32 per cent on Friday to end the week at 807.80 points, recording a weekly increase of 0.4 per cent.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was up 0.95 per cent to end last week at 107.98 points. It rose marginally by 0.3 per cent from the previous week’s closing.

According to analysts and brokerage firms, Friday’s gains on both exchanges were attributed to rising investor confidence in stocks that were expected to release good earnings reports.

BIDV Securities Co (BSC) wrote in its weekly report that both indices remained positive on the back of blue chips, and the benchmark VN-Index could go up to test the 810-point level this week, but the growth is uncertain due to declining market liquidity.

An average of 171 million shares were traded in each session last week, worth VND3.06 trillion (US$136.2 million), down 17.8 per cent in volume and 19 per cent in value compared with the previous week.

Expectations for the third-quarter corporate earnings reports will be the major driving factor this week, BSC said. PetroVietnam Southern Gas Co (HNX: PGS), flagship carrier Vietnam Airlines (HOSE: HVN) and Viet Dragon Securities Co (HOSE: VDS) have already reported positive Q3 results.

“Some unofficial sources have reported that banks performed quite well in the past quarter, and this could boost the banking sector in the short term,” BSC said.

Bank stocks will have a chance to lead the markets up, according to Hoang Thach Lan, head of the individual investor division at Viet Dragon Securities Co, and Dang Thanh The, a senior analyst at Maritime Securities Inc.

The told news site tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn that the Government had tried to achieve a more lending-based economy to reduce its dependence on the oil and gas sector, as the energy sector had been performing badly in the recent years.

According to the General Statistic Office, Viet Nam’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the third quarter was 7.46 per cent, the highest quarterly increase since 2011.

“The GDP growth hike has boosted expectations for positive policy impact on the economy,” The said. “As the intermediary that finances the whole economy, the banking industry is clearly the beneficiary.”

Lan said that investors should pay more attention to the State-invested banks such as Vietcombank (HOSE: VCB), MB Bank (HOSE: MBB), Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (HOSE: BID) and Vietinbank (HOSE: CTG), as they are well supported by the Government to clear their bad debts and improve their business efficiency.

Among those four banks, VCB still has room to grow, as the stock has not increased too much since the beginning of the year compared with the three other bank stocks, according to the two analysts.

Statistics cited on cafef.vn showed that VCB had risen 12.5 per cent since December 31, 2016, while BID, CTG and MBB have gained 45 per cent, 37 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively, during the same period.

“VCB is expected to increase after remaining modest for such a long time,” Lan said. — VNS