Market set for up and down week
Market set for up and down week
The local market is forecast to move sideways with a strong divergence among stocks this week, with large-caps accumulating to enter a positive trend, analysts said. 
The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.26 per cent to close Friday at 1,168.47 points.
It declined by 0.43 per cent last week.
An average of 579.2 million shares were traded on the southern exchange each session last week, worth VND14.8 trillion (US$641.3 million).
“This week, the market is forecast to see cumulative and sideways movements with alternating up and down sessions,” said a stock analyst at Bao Viet Securities Co (BVSC).
“The index is likely to challenge the resistance zone at 1,175-1,185 points in the first sessions of next week. This shall put shaking and correcting pressure on the market when approaching.
“Overall, the market is still in a cumulative sideways phase below the resistance zone of 1,185-1,200 points.
“We believe that this is necessary for the market and stocks to create a new price range before targeting to surpass the historical peak of around 1,200 points,” he said.
Investors should maintain stock exposure at 50-70 per cent of total investment and prioritise medium and long-term positions, Bach said.
“Strong fluctuations and corrections of the market are still considered as an opportunity for investors to increase the proportion of short-term positions in their portfolio. Therefore, investors should consider stocks from these sectors: raw materials, oil and gas, steel, banking, securities and real estate,” he said.
According to Viet Dragon Securities Co, the market continued to be cautious, however, it was still supported and slightly recovered at the end of the session.
“Therefore, the process of testing supply-demand has not ended yet. The market will still be able to recover in the next session to continue this process.
“Investors should temporarily observe the movement of money flow in the next sessions to re-assess the state of the market,” the company said.
Saigon-Hanoi Securities Joint Stock Company (SHS) said the market had encountered difficulties last week with the VN-Index failing to overcome the resistance zone of about 1,170 points.
“The index mainly struggled and shook around this level and ended right below the resistance level.
“The liquidity in each session last week was only approximate to the previous week's and lower than the 20-day average level, showing that investors were still cautious, the cash flow has not returned to the market," it said.
Short-term investors, who bottomed fish and took profits before the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, can buy in if there is a correction at strong support zone between 1,120-1,125 points or wait for the market to breaks out of 1,200 points, said SHS.
Oil and gas stocks rose the most last week, with typical gainers including PV Oil (OIL) and Binh Son Refinery (BSR), both up 1.7 per cent. PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) rose by 3.3 per cent, Petrolimex (PLX) gained by 3.6 per cent, and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) increased by 6.6 per cent.
It was followed by the construction materials group, with Hoa Phat Group (HPG) rising 4.9 per cent, Hoa Sen Group (HSG) climbing 5.4 per cent and Nam Kim Group (NKG) rising 9 per cent.
On the other side, consumer goods fell the most with Masan Group (MSN) falling 4.8 per cent, dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) dropping 3 per cent and Sabeco (SAB) down 1.9 per cent.
Foreign investors net sold strongly with net selling volume of 83 million shares, equivalent to a net selling value of VND2.8 trillion last week.
