Shares moved in opposite directions on the two national stock exchanges on Monday, with low liquidity demonstrating investor caution ahead of the New Year holiday.

 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index remained above the threshold for the afternoon session and ended the day at 965.03 points, up 0.16 per cent over Friday. The southern market index increased 0.5 per cent last week.

 

Banks continued as the market supporter with many big lenders in the VN30 basket (which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity) rising. Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB) and Techcombank (TCB) increased by more than 1 per cent.

 

Other big gainers included Vincom Retail (VRE), Vinhomes (VHM), FPT Corp (FPT), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), Refrigeration Electrical Engineering (REE) and property developer Novaland Investment (NVL) gained between 1-3 per cent each.

 

On the negative side, some large caps such as Vinamilk (VNM), Vingroup (VIC), brewer Sabeco (SAB), PV Gas (GAS), the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) bucked the trend and declined, weighing on the market.

 

Liquidity continued to drop with just 178 million shares worth VNĐ3.8 trillion (roughly US$164 million) traded, down around 20 per cent in both volume and value compared to Friday’s figures.

 

“The market will continuously experience a wild divergence among stock sectors, it could fluctuate due to funds’ net asset value closing during the first two sessions next week,” Trần Xuân Bách, a stock analyst at Bảo Việt Securities, wrote in a daily report.

 

“We expect that blue-chip stocks will increase early next year with signs of improvements in cash flow,” Bách said, forecasting the VN-Index would fluctuate between 959-961 points and 969-971 points over several sessions.

 

According to BIDV Securities Co, the highlight continued to be net buying from foreign investors on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange.

 

The foreign sector bought a net value of more than VNĐ73 billion on Monday, rising 83 per cent over Friday’s value.

 

However, the analysts predicted the market will see little change this week as the year-end is nearing.

 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index dropped 0.43 per cent on Monday to close at 102.16 points. Liquidity here was also low with more than 40 million shares worth VNĐ900 billion ($39 million) exchanged.

 

Foreign investors were net sellers on the northern bourse for a modest value of VNĐ964 million. — VNS