Shares end the week higher but foreign investors still flee the market

HÀ NỘI — The market finished higher in the last trading session of the week as large-cap stocks gained points, while foreign investors net sold large values on both exchanges. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index climbed 0. 三 五 per cent to  一, 二 六 六. 三 六 points. However the market breadth was negative as  一 九0 stocks rose while  二 二0 stocks fell.

During the session, local investors poured over VNĐ 二 二.0 三 trillion into the southern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly  七 三 一 million shares. 

The gains in pillar stocks were the main driving force for the market. The VN 三0-Index rose 0. 七 二 per cent to close Friday’s trade at  一, 三 八0.0 二 points. 

Twenty-two of the  三0 biggest stocks in the VN 三0 basket inched higher on Friday while eight stocks declined. 

The move was contrary to analysts’ expectations that the market benchmark might fall back to the support zone of  一, 二 五0 points in the last session.

“Rising downward pressure at the end of the session when the VN-Index approaches the resistance territory of around  一, 二 七 五 points might cause it to fall back to the support zone of around  一, 二 五0 points in the last trading session of the week,” Bảo Việt Securities wrote in a daily report to investors. 

The firm also kept their stance that the market will move sideways to create a new base above the level of  一, 二00 -  一, 二 二0 points in the near future.

Bank stocks still dominated the market’s rally as four out of top five stocks influencing the trend were from this sector. These stocks were VPBank (VPB), Southeast Asia Co妹妹ercial Joint Stock Bank (SSB), Techcombank (TCB) and Vietinbank (CTG) with SSB hitting the maximum daily gain of  七 per cent, while three other stocks all jumped more than  一 per cent. 

But the biggest gainer on Friday was Masan Group (MSN) from the material sector.

The index pared some gains as selling pressure persisted in a few big stocks. Vingroup JSC (VIC) posted the biggest loss, down 0. 九 五 per cent. It was followed by PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) and Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk, VNM), dropped  一. 七 五 per cent and  一. 一 per cent, respectively. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index edged  二. 六 八 per cent higher to  二 九 四. 八 二 points. The index also rallied on gains in large-cap stocks. The HNX 三0-Index, tracking the  三0 biggest stocks on HNX, increased  二. 六 八 per cent to  四 四0.0 三 points. 

During the session, over  一 六 一. 二 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ 三. 五 trillion. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors kept fleeing the market as they net sold a huge amount of over VNĐ 一. 六 五 trillion on both exchanges. Of which, they net sold a value VNĐ 一. 六 一 trillion on HoSE and a value of VNĐ 四 一. 一 八 billion on HNX. VNS