Gains of blue chips last week helped lift the VN-Index over the strong resistance landmark of 600 points on the HCM Stock Exchange.

At the same time, profit taking pushed the HNX-Index down on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange.

In HCM City, strong growth of major stocks, such as the largest share in terms of market value such as PV Gas (GAS), dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), real estate developer VinGroup (VIC) and Vietcombank (VCB),were the main driving forces sustaining the Index above 600 points.

Additionally, the VN-Index gained an accumulative 0.64 per cent during the course of the week, closing Friday at 600.14 points.

Overall, the VN30 tracked the top 30 shares by market value, as liquidity slid 0.55 per cent to end at 641.96 points.

According to analysts, investors focused buying on several blue chips to remain at the top due to their expected strong business results in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, many banks posted large profits last week.

Vietinbank (CTG) posted a pre-tax profit of some VND4 trillion (US$190 million) in the first six months of the year. Vietcombank (VCB) followed with a pre-tax profit of VND2.778 trillion ($132 million) and Sacombank (STB) with a profit of VND1.531 trillion ($73 million).

However, the market was volatile, with up-and-down sessions as decliners often outnumbered advancers. Also, profit-taking pressure increased over sessions that drove liquidity down.

The market volume on the HCM City bourse continued to decline, compared to the previous week, with the daily volume averaging just 94 million shares and fund certificates were down 14.3 per cent from the previous week's volume. Values of trades reached nearly VND1.6 trillion ($76 million) per session.

Shares of real estate FLC Group (FLC) drew the most attention last week, as they were continuously the most active on the southern bourse, with over ten million shares traded each session.

Also, gains rose 7.6 per cent during the week, thanks to information that the company will issue additional shares and pay dividends. Further, the possibility that its second-quarter business results will be strong could be another reason for their attraction.

By contrast, the HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange lost 2.12 per cent to retreat to 79.43 points, driven by strong selling pressures.

The daily trading volume decreased 8 per cent against the previous week, averaging more than 45 million shares, worth over VND567 billion ($27 million).

Foreign investors ended last week as net buyers on the HCM City's exchange, picking up shares worth VND167.7 billion ($8 million). However, their buys did not affect the market trend as their focus was on mid-cap or penny stocks. However, they were net sellers in Ha Noi, unloading shares worth nearly VND9 billion ($427,000).

Analysts expect the market will fluctuate in early sessions of this week, with the domination of a downtrend.

"Conquering the 600-point landmark was a success of the VN-Index in the context of lacking supporting information. Only reports of business results of listed companies will likely not be strong enough to sustain the market in the next stage," analysts at Investment Viet Nam Securities Co wrote in a note.

They predicted similar movements on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange with the HNX-Index moving around the psychological landmark of 80 points.

VNS/VNN