Viet Nam’s benchmark VN Index remained fragile on Monday, losing its positive momentum as investors remained cautious over the current market downtrend.

The benchmark index on the HCM Stock Exchange closed almost flat at 768.79 points. It finished last trading week at 768.97 points.

Nearly 169.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND3.34 trillion (US$148.7 million).

Monday’s trading volume was 13.5 per cent lower than that of Friday while trading value increased slightly.

Large-cap stocks were to blame for pulling the main exchange down on Monday as half of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation declined, causing the VN30 Index to fall nearly 0.1 per cent.

Decliners included freshly-listing VPBank (VPB), steel producer Hoa Phat Group (HPG), insurance-finance group Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and property developer Novaland (NVL).

Shares of brokerage firms were also negative. An Phat Securities Co (APG) was the only rising securities stock, which gained 0.3 per cent while others saw their values decrease, including BIDV Securities (BSI), HCM City Securities (HCM) and Vietinbank Securities (CTS).

Foreign investors remaining net sellers also worsened market sentiment, posting a net sell value of VND58.6 billion, an increase of nearly 300 per cent from Friday.

According to securities firms, investor confidence has remained low over recent weeks as the stock market had performed weaker than it had in the first seven months of the year.

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Co (SHS) wrote in its daily report that the VN Index recorded its sixth up-and-down session on Monday with declining trading liquidity.

“That shows a large number of investors were standing by and observing the market with caution because the market is becoming weaker than it was in the previous seven months.”

While the VN Index has failed to surpass the level of 770 points, it has also remained below its upward trend line that was established in April and signals negative trading sessions ahead, Bao Viet Securities (BVSC) said in its note.

The market conditions were negative as trading liquidity remained comparatively lower than the average of the previous 21 trading days while declining stocks outnumbered gaining ones, proving that investor sentiment was weak in general, BVSC said.

Therefore, BVSC said the main market trend in the next few sessions would be negative while SHS said the VN Index would move narrowly between 762 points and 778 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index added 0.30 per cent to end at 101.13 points with nearly 46 million shares being exchanged, worth VND594 billion.

VNA