Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Vietnam’s benchmark stock indexdropped 0.2 percent on February 17, to finish last week at 707.83 points. Ithad declined a total 0.5 percent for two days, from a four-day rally of 1.6 percent.
The two-day decrease also reducedits weekly gain to only 0.6 percent from the previous week’s closing level.
The last two declining sessionswere just technical corrections and the VN Index will continue to drop for afew days before rising again, according to Le Duc Khanh, head of marketstrategy at Maritime Securities Inc.
“Market conditions have remainedpositive and the real test the VN Index will face is in the range of 725-730points.”
Phan Dung Khanh, head ofinvestment consultancy division at Maybank Kim Eng Securities Company, saidthat investor confidence soared when the VN Index was near the level of 720points on February 17.
However, when a few investorstried to offload their stakes in local stocks, the VN Index was pulled down tobelow 710 points at the end of day, causing investor caution, he said.
He added that that was only ashort-term technical fall after the VN Index had gained big in the post-Tetperiod and market conditions would remain positive with increasing tradingliquidity, net-buy trend of foreign investors and good performances by listedcompanies.
Agreeing with Khanh’s opinions,Duong Van Chung, head of investment division at MB Securities Company, saidthat the most important factor that drives the stock market up is the strengthof listed companies.
For the last few weeks, large-capcompanies like brewer Sabeco and the two steelmakers Hoa Phat Group and Hoa SenGroup have reported big profits for 2016, he said.
These are the firms that havecreated a firm foundation to attract a lot of money from individual andinstitutional investors in both domestic and foreign markets, Chung said.
In Vietnam’s securities market,foreign investors recorded a net buy value of 330 billion VND (14.66 millionUSD) last week, higher than the previous week’s net buy value of 88.26 billionVND.
Market trading liquidity alsoremained positive compared to the previous trading week. An average of nearly174 million shares was traded in each session, worth 3.33 trillion VND. Thosefigures were 20 percent in trading volume and 13 percent in trading value.
Other securities firms alsoagreed that the stock market this week will be steady at the range of 700-710points before rising again.
“The VN Index could fall back to700 points early this week, and then rise back to 710 points,” MaritimeSecurities Inc said in a report.
The securities firm suggested toinvestors that they should be patient and hold on to the stocks in theirportfolios before seeking opportunities to swoop in on declining shares.-VNA
VNA
