High selling pressure during the final minutes of trading limited gains, but the benchmark VN-Index still managed its rally thanks to the performance of some large-cap stocks.

 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index inched up 0.01 per cent to 975.69 points.

 

Liquidity was modest with 170 million shares worth a combined VNĐ3.9 trillion (US$165 million) traded on the southern bourse.

 

The VN-Index gained 1.07 per cent on Wednesday to end the day at 975.64 points.

 

Fourteen of the 30 largest shares by market capitalisation on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost value while 10 increased.

 

Securities, mining, banking, construction and construction materials were among the worst-performing industries, but their indices still managed to rise by between 0.3 and 0.6 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

 

On the positive side, some large-cap stocks such as Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC), Vinamilk (VNM), The Cotec Construction Joint Stock Company (Coteccons or CTD) and Petro Vietnam Gas JSC (GAS) maintained good movement and contributed to the uptrend.

 

VHM increased by 1.2 per cent and VIC increased by 1.4 per cent.

 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged down 0.32 to 106.09 points on Thursday.

 

Around 30.4 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ430 billion.

 

The index rose 0.7 per cent the previous day to close Wednesday at 106.43 points.

 

On Thursday, foreign investors net-sold VNĐ130.54 billion on the HOSE, focusing on Vinhomes (VHM) (VNĐ37.2 billion), Vincom Retail (VRE) (VNĐ15.8 billion) and Hòa Phát Group HPG (VNĐ15.3 billion). They bought a net value of VNĐ42.93 billion on the HNX.

 

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company, the VN-Index is expected to post gains in the last session of the week. The index is likely to head towards the resistance zone of 980-983 points in the next several sessions.

 

“This zone will determine market’s ability to prolong the recovery trend in the short term," BVSC wrote in its daily report. "The market may experience choppy trading and adjusting pressure especially when foreign investors maintain a net selling trend. We leave open the possibility that market’s recent gains are only technical."

 

Stock exposure, therefore, should be limited at 45 per cent of the portfolio at most. Investors could partly sell stocks that have posted strong increases in recent sessions. Investors should not chase stocks at high prices and only buy at stocks’ support zone in market’s correction, BVSC said. — VNS