Shares close higher but VN-Index fails to hit 1,200
Shares close higher but VN-Index fails to hit 1,200
Viet Nam's stock market managed to close higher on Monday but the correction pressure from the banking group hindered indices from rising further. 
On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index failed to conquer the 1,200-point landmark. It was up 0.03 per cent to close at 1,194.43 points.
The southern market index had gained 1.06 per cent last week.
The market's breadth turned negative as 274 stocks declined while 180 stocks increased and 60 stocks ended flat.
More than 700 million shares were traded on the sothern market, worth over VND15.8 trillion (US$684.8 million).
Many big bank stocks put pressure on the market's uptrend, including Sacombank (STB), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB), Military Bank (MBB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID).
But the market was strongly supported by many other blue-chip stocks such as Vietcombank (VCB), Novaland (NVL), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vietjet (VJC), Thanh Thanh Cong Bien Hoa JSC (SBT), Vincom Retail (VRE), Vinhomes (VHM) and PVPower (POW).
“Liquidity fell slightly and market breadth was negative, indicating a cautious trading sentiment before the resistance level of 1,200 points,” said BIDV Securities Co.
“Foreigners continued to be net sellers on the HSX while they were net buyers on the HNX.
“With cash flow trend circulating among different sectors and cautious trading sentiment, VN-Index may continue consolidating before the threshold of 1,200 points in the coming sessions,” the company said.
Foreign investors' net sold VND466.74 billion on HOSE, including Vinamilk (VNM) (VND172.3 billion), Vietinbank (CTG) (VND156.1 billion), and Hoa Phat Group (HPG) (VND79.9 billion). They were net buyers on the HNX with a value of VND9.01 billion.
The VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, lost 0.4 per cent to close at 1,198.54 points.
Eighteen of 30 biggest stocks in market value decreased while 12 rose.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index lost 1.03 per cent to touch 274.84 points.
The northern market index had gained 1.38 per cent last week.
On the northern bourse, more than 160.5 million shares were traded, worth over VND2.4 trillion.
“The market is forecast to undergo correction pressure in the first sessions of this week before regaining towards the end of the week,” said Bao Viet Securities Co.
“VN-Index shall test the support area of 1,185-1,190 points in some sessions before recovering."
“The rise of the global stock market, Q1/2021 business earnings information, and the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) season of listed companies will be supportive factors for market movements in the short term,” it said.
