Stock market downtrend likely to remain

Declined stock prices in Vietnam are not likely to recover rapidly as an uptrend is not what market analysts forecast, amid rising short-term risks.

The VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, fell 12.84 points on Friday to close at 1,024.77. For the whole week, the benchmark index lost 14.79 points, equal to a 1.4% decrease.

The HNX-Index at the Hanoi Stock Exchange, where mid and small caps list, was down 0.61% to 204.89 points.

The index was hit the most by Masan Group’s MSN, Vietcombank’s VCB, MWG of Mobile World Group, and GAS of PV Gas.

On the contrary, BID, VJC, VNM, and STB of State-run bank BIDV, VietJet Air, dairy product maker Vinamilk and Sacombank respectively were the ones with the best contributions to the index this week.

Foreign investors continued as net sellers on both exchanges this week with a net value of VND1,181 billion ($49.78 million). In terms of net selling, DXG of property developer Dat Xanh Group was the stock sold the most, with 13 million shares. Regarding net buying, POW of PV Power was the sticker bought the most, with 4.9 million shares.

Securities firm SHS is of the view that the index has almost lost its short-term recovery, and is likely to enter the accumulation range. The worse case, according to SHS, is the index may return to a medium-term downtrend range on the way back to the bottom of 920-950 points.

The 920-950 area may still become a strong support level and a mid-term bottom because stock prices have decreased much, according to SHS.

From a technical perspective, VCB Securities says selling pressure returned in the last session of the week, pushing down the index. In the daily chart, there is no sign of bottoming for the balance point. The market's nearest support is still around the 1,020-point range.

According to MB Securities, in the last nine sessions, the market only recovered in two sessions. Therefore, a market correction is likely to continue.