Traders at an online bond auction at the Hanoi Stock Exchange. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese shares have had a rough losing
week and the next five trading sessions at least are likely to trade
negatively, according to analysts and brokerage companies.
The benchmark VN Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and the
HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange respectively inched down 0.2 percent and
0.1 percent to close at 772.08 points and 100.86 points on August 11.
The two stock indices have posted losses of 2.6 percent and 1.5 percent
in four consecutive sessions. They also declined by 2.1 percent and 1 percent
from the previous week’s closing levels.
The decline has been attributed to investors affected by rising
tensions between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and by
false news about the arrest of a former bank executive on August 9.
The loss in investor confidence as a result of the bad news
affected local stocks, bringing the VN Index down 2.3 percent, the biggest loss
in the last 20 months, and the HNX Index down 1.2 percent, costing the stock
market 2 billion USD in market capitalisation.
Liquidity was quite low in the last two trading sessions of the
week after having risen sharply on August 9 on investors’ sell-offs of local
stocks.
An average of 307.3 million shares worth 4.72 trillion VND (209.7
million USD) was traded in each session on both local exchanges last week.
The global and domestic bad news also pulled down foreign
investment. Foreign investors last week posted a total net buy value of 328
billion VND, a weekly decrease of nearly 55 percent.
The banking sector was the worst-hit among 20 industries on the
market as shares of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID)
slumped 6.9 percent on August 9, and a total of 10 percent since then.
Other bank stocks also posted sharp declines the same day,
remaining negative in the last three trading sessions.
According to analysts and securities companies, there is no sign
that the stock market will turn positive this week as investor sentiment
remains poor and there is a lack of supportive business news.
Chau Thien Truc Quynh, senior analyst at Viet Capital Securities
Company, said that the Vietnamese stock market will undergo a short-term
downward trend.
Buyers were still unwilling to make new purchases as they were
concerned about market rumours and are likely to wait till these clear up, she
said.
The Vietnamese market was also running out of supportive business
news as the earnings report season was ending, and it was also being affected
by the short-term declining trend in the global and regional markets, Quynh
added.
The FPT Securities Company (FPTS) said that the bad news last week
had pulled investor confidence down strongly, and it would be hard for them to
regain balance very soon. This would affect the two indices negatively, it
said.
Sai Gon-Hanoi Securities (SHS) said in its weekly report that the
benchmark VN Index would move narrowly between 770 and 776 points on August 14
before breaking this zone and heading to test the 780-point level again.
However, that would be a short-term, unstable technical recovery,
SHS warned. “The short-term technical indicators for the index are still in the
negative territory, therefore, investors should not limit their purchases.”-VNA