Shares advanced last week, boosted by large-cap stocks on both national stock exchanges.

The benchmark indices regained its previous week's high, with the VN-Index on the HCM City Stock Exchange seen adding 3.2 per cent to reach 578.82 points while the HNX-Index adding 1.67 per cent to reach 77.58 points.

Gains of large-cap stocks such as Vingroup (VIC), Masan Group (MSN) and PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (GAS), along with Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and BIDV (BID) helped the VN-Index to open higher this week after tumbling throughout the previous week ending June 20. However, cautious investors dragged down market liquidity.

The benchmark index was on solid ground throughout the week despite the sudden hike in petrol prices on Tuesday.

Trading volume and value were seen improving in Thursday's trading with the trading volume and value, respectively, 45 and 46 per cent higher than the average figures of the week due to the rise of speculative stocks, coupled with more stable blue chips.

However, on Friday, short-term trading by investors caused the speculative stocks to have a mixed day while large-cap stocks continued to support the market and advance. Investors were cautious as market liquidity returned to a low level.

On an average, about 84.9 million shares worth an average VND1.39 trillion (US$66.1 million) changed hands on the southern bourse per session, which was about 20 per cent lower than the previous week.

On the Ha Noi Exchange, the HNX-Index lost on Monday and Thursday, but showed gains during the rest of the week's trading sessions.

An average 47.9 million shares worth VND556.9 billion ($26.5 million) were traded per session.

Foreign investors purchased a net VND385 billion ($18.3 million) shares last week. They traded heavily on the two last trading days of the week and on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange.

On HCM City Stock Exchange, they bought a net VND365.4 billion ($17.4 million) shares with the focus on Gemardept Corporation (GMD), Vietcombank (VCB) and Da Nang Rubber Corporation (DRC).

On Ha Noi Exchange, they bought heavily into PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), Sai Gon Ha Noi Bank (SHB) and VNDirect Securities (VND).

According to FPT Securities, the market might encounter rising profit-booking pressure this week and tumble while approaching the 580 point circuit-breaker, as a result. The company urged investors to prioritise the holdings of stocks which promised better second quarter business results.

Bao Viet Securities said that the market trend in the short term remained unclear amid potential risks. The company said that there were opportunities for investors to buy cheap stocks for medium term, rather than short-term trading.

Stock analysts said that the strong resistance band of 580 points would continue to challenge investors' psychology this week while the announcement of business results for the first half of this year would add to the expectations. 

VNS/VNN