Analysts look to long-term gains

Investors monitor trades at the offices of Bao Viet Securities Co in Ha Noi. Shares slid again yesterday on both exchanges.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index shed 0.57 per cent to close at 454.16 points, while on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index tumbled 0.45 per cent to 62.05 points.

FPT Securities Co predicted the VN-Index was likely to settle at a low of 445 points.

"Meanwhile, if the HNX-Index declines further to 59-60 points, it will trigger a bounce-back," the company wrote on its website yesterday.

In HCM City, the VN30 also declined 0.52 per cent to 534.97 points.

Gainers outnumbered losers yesterday by 18 codes, while most listed stocks finished unchanged.

Trading value saw a decrease of around 19 per cent to reach VND1 trillion ($47.6 million). Trading volume also fell to 84.2 million units.

Market value remained relatively high, the securities firm said, adding that the positive trend would repeat in the medium term.

Among blue chips tracked by the VN30, only insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), Sacombank (STB) and Vietcombank (VCB) performed well, edging up between 0.3-2.3 per cent, but real estate firm Tan Tao (ITA) bottomed out.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, losers overwhelmed gainers by 117-88.

Market value and volume reached only 70 per cent of the previous session's level, standing at VND523.3 billion ($24.9 million) and 71.7 million shares.

The HNX30, representing the performance of Ha Noi's top shares, lost 0.5 per cent over Thursday's close to finish at 118.96 points.

However, according to FPT Securities, market sentiment was stable enough to prevent indices from falling sharply.

As profit-taking by domestic investors eased compared to Thursday, foreign players increased their buys to a margin of VND93.35 billion ($4.4 million) on both bourses.

This was one of the factors indicating that the market would decline just slightly.

"The risk of a hefty fall is higher when foreign investors start massive sell-offs," BIDV Securities Co analyst Hoang Anh Tuan wrote in a note.