VN-Index drops below 1,250-point mark as foreign investors net sell $39.6 mln

The Vietnamese stock market encountered strong fluctuations in the first trading week of March with a sudden increase in liquidity.

Foreign investors were net sellers for four consecutive sessions during the week, further increasing investor pessimism.

From March 4-8, the VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), recorded three gaining sessions and two declining.

On Friday, strong selling pressure from large caps, especially banking stocks, caused the index to close at 1,247.35 points, a decrease of 21.11 points.

Over the course of the week, the VN-Index decreased 10.92 points, or 0.87%, to 1,247.35. Trading value on the HoSE surged 16.2% from the previous week to more than VND135 trillion ($5.48 billion), with over 1 billion shares changing hands per session.

Foreign investors also increased their transactions with net sales reaching VND975.81 billion ($39.6 million).

Securities stocks were the best performers, with AGR of Agribank Securities gaining 16.02%, DSC of DSC Securities 13.27%, CTS of VietinBank Securities 9.77%, and PSI of Petrovietnam Securities 7.95%.

Banking tickers were under strong selling pressure, which was the main factor behind factor in the VN-Index's decline in the week-ending session. Among them, TPB of TPBank lost 6.3%, BVB of BAOVIET Bank 6.09%, MSB of Maritime Bank 5.71%, and BID of BIDV 4.49%.

The real estate group continued to see less positive developments. In addition to some codes making good gains such as VRC of VRC Real Estate and Investment JSC (+25.69%), NBB of 577 Corp. (+13.79%), NHA of Hanoi South Housing and Urban Development Corp. (+5 .52%) and NLG of Nam Long Group (+5.01%), the majority went down, including AGG of An Gia Group (-5.39%), NVL of Novaland (-4.62%), CEO of CEO Group (-3.98%), and DIG of DIC Corp. (-3.63%).

Broker Vietcombank Securities (VCBS) believed that the main trend on the VN-Index will remain mid-term gains, so strong correction sessions are necessary for it to continue moving towards higher territories. The broker recommended investors take advantage of strong fluctuations to buy stocks in groups such as banking, securities, and retail.

According to Viet Dragon Securities (VDSC), the VN-Index has temporarily lost the support zone of 1,250 points, so it might take time to retest cash flow at the lower support area. The index is expected to hover around 1,240 points and bounce back. Therefore, investors need to observe cash flow developments at the support zone and temporarily limit transactions.

“They can consider buying stocks during deep corrections around the support area,” it advised.