Foreign investors net sell $50 mln on HCMC bourse in past trading week

Foreign investors were strong net sellers on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) to the tune of VND1.22 trillion ($50.15 million) during the trading week from November 6-10.

They mainly net sold two blue chips: VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes and electronics retailer MWG of Mobile World Investment Corp with VND464 billion ($19 million) and VND456 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, this group net bought steel, banking and construction-materials tickers such as HPG of steel maker Hoa Phat, HSG of Hoa Sen Group, NKG of Nam Kim Steel, STB of Sacombank, HDB of HDBBank, CTG of VietinBank, TPB of TPBank, BID of BIDV, and VCG of Vinaconex.

During the week, Vietnam's stock market recorded fluctuations in the first two trading sessions with investors’ caution when the benchmark VN-Index re-approached the 1,085-point territory.

However, strong bottom-fishing demand pushed the rallies of stock groups, especially securities, and as a result, the VN-Index, which represents the HoSE, went from bottom to top with a surge of nearly 38 points in just over one hour at the end of the November 8 session.

More impressively, the HoSE saw 951 million shares changing hands for over VND18.6 trillion ($763 million), up 50% and 47.3% respectively compared to the previous day.

In the last two sessions, short-term profit-taking pressure after a good gain from the bottom caused the VN-Index to lose steam, dropping to the 1,100-point area.

For the whole week, the major index increased 24.9 points, or 2.31%, from the previous week to 1,101.68. The average trading value on the all three exchanges, including the HoSE, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and the unlisted public companies market (UPCoM), hit VND20.23 trillion ($831.65 million) per session, up 27.6% from the previous week and 20.1% compared to the 5-week average.

The securities group was a bright spot as many codes recorded strong price hikes and sudden liquidity such as VIX of VIX Securities (+15.38%), SHS of Saigon-Hanoi Securities (+13.73%), BSI of BIDV Securities (13.11%), CTS of VietinBank Securities (12.58%), FTS of FPT Securities (11.25%), and MBS of MBBank Securities (10.87%).

Real estate stocks also experienced a positive trading week. The biggest gainers were NLG of Nam Long Group (14.06%), PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate (13.75%), TCH of Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services JSC (10.27%), NVL of Novaland (9.97%), DXG of Dat Xanh Group (9.7%), and ITC of Investment and Trading of Real Estate JSC (9.67%).

Meanwhile, banking tickers saw a divergence. TPB of TPBank, SHB of Saigon-Hanoi Bank, and HDB of HDBank expanded 5 .92%, 4.21% and 2.72% respectively; while VCB of Vietcombank, SSB of SeABank, and VPB of VPBank declined 3.26%, 2.06% and 2% respectively.

According to broker Saigon-Hanoi Securities (SHS), the market is still in a technical recovery and will need a lot of time to find a balance area for its accumulation process.

“In the short term, the VN-Index will test the support territory of 1,100 points and if successful, investors can buy stocks but with a caution,” it said.

In the medium and long term, investors can increase their proportion of stocks. “They should choose leading tickers with good fundamentals and stable growth potential that are moving in the current accumulation state,” it advised.

Another broker Vietcombank Securities (VCBS) recommended investors maintain the stock proportion at 30%, and keep a close watch on market developments around the support zone of 1,085 points. They should patiently wait for deeper corrections to buy shares at better prices, it said.