Shares mixed on investor caution

A broker at An Binh Securities Co. Vietnamese shares showed a mixed trend at closing on Friday.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange slipped 0.31 per cent to close at 757.94 points.

The index had increased 1.65 per cent to end Thursday at 760.33 points.

More than 338.4 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VND4.1 trillion (US$175.9 million).

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index lost 0.30 per cent to close Friday at 695.74 points.

In the VN30 basket, 19 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity declined while nine rose. Two stayed unchanged.

On the US market, Wall Street marched higher on Thursday after the Federal Reserve announce the plan to inject an additional $2.3 trillion in the form of loans to nurse local governments and businesses hurt by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 285.8 points, or 1.22 per cent, to 23,719.37, the S&P 500 gained 39.84 points, or 1.45 per cent, to 2,789.82 and the Nasdaq Composite added 62.67 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 8,153.58.

On the negative side, the local stock market was still weighed down by strong decline in energy and mining stocks after global oil prices stepped back in Thursday’s overnight trading.

Oil prices fell after an earlier increase as OPEC and its allies reached an agreement to cut output that was smaller than the market was expecting.

US crude dropped 7.4 per cent to $23.22 a barrel. Brent crude fell 3 per cent to $31.85 per barrel.

Following the move, local energy stocks also turned negative, with PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD), PetroVietnam Power Corporation (POW) and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) losing 2.5 per cent, 2.1 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

Some other individual large-caps also lost ground such as insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), dropping by 2.5 per cent, Mobile World Group (MWG), falling by 1.8 per cent, Vingroup (VIC), losing by 1 per cent.

The banking group was also underperforming, with Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID) decreasing by 2.1 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) losing by 1.8 per cent.

But the market still received strong support from other pillars such as budget carrier Vietjet (VJC), brewery firm Sabeco (SAB) and steel maker Hoa Phat Group, rising by 7 per cent, 1.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.

The key factor that supported the Vietnamese stock market in the past week was the Government’s effective containment of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Nguyen The Minh, director of market analysis at Yuanta Securities Co.

“However, the market may face big difficulties when the VN-Index approaches the resistance of 810 points as strong selling pressure will likely appear. Investors should avoid using margins because the upward momentum can only last one to two weeks," Minh told news site ndh.vn.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange climbed 1.05 per cent to close Friday at 106.18 points.

The northern market index had climbed 1.1 per cent to close Thursday at 105.08 points.

Nearly 53.3 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND475.4 billion.