VietNamNet Bridge – Transactions for short-term purposes continued to dominate the market last week, creating both increasing and declining sessions. Foreign investors bought blue chips, helping reduce the panic caused by market pessimism.

Investors watch share movements at an SME Securities Company branch in Ha Noi. National stocks continued to tumble last week as investors shied away.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index fell on Monday but managed to rally in the two following days. It ended Friday at 476.42 points, losing 0.75 per cent compared to the previous Friday's close.

The average value of trades dropped around 44 per cent over the previous week to VND563 billion (US$26.5 million) as the average trading volume reached nearly 35.8 million shares.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.45 per cent to 60.18 points.

Sluggish

Trading was sluggish, averaging only VND108.8 billion ($5.1 million) and 16.35 million shares.

During Monday's session, the market faced a heavy sell-off, triggered by trading on blue chips such as PV Gas (GAS), Vinamilk (VNM), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vingroup (VIC).

Shares were mixed during the rest of the week, combined with investor caution and declining liquidity.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the second consecutive week, buying a total of VND82.6 billion ($3.8 million) in HCM City. In Ha Noi, the net value was VND10.5 billion ($495,200).

PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) saw the steepest decrease last week with three successive sessions plunging to floor price. Overall, PVF lost more than 22 per cent due to its announcement that it would delist shares on September 24 to merge with Western Bank. In addition to the fears of where their invested money would go, investors were concerned about the prospects of PvcomBank, the entity that would be created by the merger.

"The market was mainly affected by domestic sentiment and the world trend of withdrawing from the emerging Asian market," said Le Thi Bich Hang from FPT Securities Company.

Cash flow was focused on the US and BRICS markets last week and foreign investment into the Asian market did not improve, Japan being the exception.

In the short term, Hang added, opportunities might come from stocks with good financial results in the third quarter.

The September consumer price index in major cities, forecast to rise sharply, is likely to be revealed by the end of this week.

"We expand the range of movement for the VN-Index to 460-480 points," PetroVietnam Securities Co analysts wrote in a note.

Source: VNS