Shares are expected to move modestly in the coming two trading sessions as investors settle trading before the Tet holiday (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Shares areexpected to move modestly in the coming two trading sessions as investorssettle trading before the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, while concerns remainfollowing recent turbulence in global markets.
The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM StockExchange was down 1.89 percent to close Friday at 1,003.94 points, totalling atwo-day loss of 3.5 percent.
The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchangeedged up 0.48 percent to end at 117.50 points, recovering from its one daydecline of 4.47 percent.
The two stock indices witnessed a weeklyloss of 9.1 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, as the volatility of globalstock markets dampened investor confidence, leading to a massive sell-off onthe Vietnamese market.
An average of more than 292.5 millionshares were traded in each session, worth 9.32 trillion VND (414.5 million USD).
The trading figures were down 21.5 percentin volume and 2.1 percent in value, compared to the previous trading week’snumbers.
The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted PublicCompany Market (UPCoM) finished at 56.48 points, slightly above the referencelevel of 56.46 points.
Furthermore, the unlisted market index fell4 percent after the five trading sessions of the week.
Analysts and investors attributed thestrong fall on the Vietnamese stock market to negative impacts created by theworld market, as international investors worried that the US central bank couldraise its interest rates faster and higher than expected this year.
Such concerns triggered a massive sell-offacross global markets and had a negative influence on Vietnamese stocks. In thefirst two sessions of the week, Vietnam’s stock market lost some 14 billion USDin total market capitalisation.
In addition, oil prices posted the largestweekly drop in one year. Brent crude lost nearly 10 percent in the last twoweeks, to end on February 9 at 62.79 USD a barrel, the lowest since December14, 2017.
The worst decliners were financial firms(insurers and brokerages), banks, energy companies and real estate businesses,such as Vingroup (VIC), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH),Petrolimex (PLX) and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID).
Though the sharp decline in local marketstriggered investors to purchase cheaper-than-expected stocks, it did not coverthe fact that investor sentiment was quite poor, due to concerns about thecontinuance of global market volatility.
According to brokerage companies, investorswill trade quietly in the next two sessions, before the Vietnamese stockmarkets close for the Tet holiday. The three exchanges and securities companieswill begin the holiday on February 14 and open again on February 21.
“Given the sentiments before the week-longholiday, the market will remain dull, with declining liquidity,” Bao Viet SecuritiesCompany (BVSC) said in its weekend report.
The stock indices are expected to continueto decline with “high divergence among groups of stocks, owing tobottom-fishing demands,” it said.
The market will suffer a strong fluctuationthis week due to investors’ caution and concerns about short-term markettrends, especially after trading liquidity showed signs of declining and themarket breadth was negative, BVSC added.
Sharing a similar market outlook, BIDVSecurities Company (BSC) said the market is showing unclear signs of movementat the moment, thus investors should limit their trading and return in thepost-Tet period after the market comes back to its normal trading condition.
The VN-Index is forecast to reach 1,050-1,092points, BVSC reported. - VNA
VNA
