The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock exchange (HoSE) lost 0.50 percent to end the August 14 session at 850.74 points.

The index had gained 1.1 percent last week.

An average of 278.3 million shares were traded on the southern exchange during each session last week, worth 4.6 trillion VND (199 million USD).

“The VN-Index is forecast to face correction pressure during early trading sessions next week. The index will receive support from 840 points,” said Tran Xuan Bach, a stock analyst at Bao Viet Securities Co.

“Overall, we maintain our expectation that the index will soon break the upward resistance of 858-860 points and head toward the strong resistance of 878-883 points in the short term,” he said.

“The market may fluctuate considerably next week with the maturity of August futures contracts. Besides, the review sessions of funds bench-marking MSCI Frontier Market Index will take place during the last weeks of August and possibly trigger wild fluctuations for blue-chip indices of their baskets,” Bach said.

According to Viet Dragon Securities Company, during August 14’s trading session, indices rose at the beginning but could not keep their pace due to large profit-taking pressure.

This showed that market could still correct and had yet to reach the balance. Investors should not rush to participate in the market to preserve accounts, the company said.

Ngo Quoc Hung, senior analyst at MB Securities Co's market strategy department, said that from now until the end of this year, the stock market was still heavily dependent on the unpredictable developments of external elements such as the COVID-19 pandemic, US-China trade tensions and the US presidential election in November.

“With so many uncertain variables, it is too early to forecast a long-term recovery period for the market. Instead of making predictions, investors should prepare for different scenarios to respond in accordance with market developments,” he said.

Foreign traders continued their selling. On the HoSE, foreign investors net sold 208 billion VND on August 14, up 61 percent compared to the net selling value in the previous session. They have been net sellers for six consecutive sessions on HoSE with a total value of up to 832 billion VND.

According to BIDV Securities Company, local investors should keep a close watch on the net selling activities of foreign investors.

If this net selling trend continues with high volume while the global market experiences negative movements, the market will face significant pressure in the short run, it said.

Last week, the oil and gas sector posted highest gains of 4.4 percent, with notable gainers of PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil), Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Co (PVD) and Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX).

Consumer service sector also outperformed with an increase of 3.2 percent. Banking sector rose by 2.4 percent.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.54 percent to end August 14’s session at 116.23 points.

The northern market index had gained 3.06 percent last week.

An average of 76.5 million shares were traded on the northern exchange during each session last week, worth 1.2 trillion VND./.VNS

VN stock market grows rapidly in last 20 years

As of the end of 2019, the capitalization value of the securities market at HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) had reached 3.28 million of billion of VND, or 54.3 percent of GDP with 2.3 million investors’ accounts.

Vietnam stock market predicted to be resilient amid Covid-19 resurgence

The stock market still proves to be quite attractive in the context of redundant liquidity and other investment channels having not fully recovered.