HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares advanced on Monday with positive investor confidence in global market moves, but strong selling pressure could be a challenge in the coming days.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose as high as 999.9 points – the highest level since October 5, 2018 – on Monday before selling pressure limited gains. It closed at 994.43 points, a gain of 0.56 per cent.

The VN-Index was expected to touch the 1,000 points this year, VNDirect Securities Corp said in its 2019 market outlook.

Last week, the VN-Index gained a total of 4 per cent over five trading days. Since the beginning of the year, it has gained 13.2 per cent.

More than 227.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ5.2 trillion (US$223.8 million).

The market rally was attributed to positive global market moves, as sentiment was bolstered by the US’s decision to delay its tax hike on Chinese imports.

According to Bao Viet Securities Co (BVSC), the decision “reduced investors’ concerns over trade war influences on China’s economy” and resulted in a “sharp increase across all boards” for Asia-Pacific stock markets.

“Supported by positive international macroeconomic news, Việt Nam’s Vn-Index continues its upward trend,” BVSC said in its daily report.

Positive investor confidence lifted securities firms, banks, consumer staple businesses and pharmaceutical-healthcare service providers.

Those four industry indices rose by between 1.3 and 4.1 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

In the banking sector, Eximbank (EIB) was the best performing stock as it surged 6 per cent. Other gainers included HDBank (HDB), Vietcombank (VCB) and Tiên Phong Bank (TPB).

Food stocks also made gains such as Masan (MSN), seafood exporter Hùng Vương Group (HVG) and dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM).

Positive trading liquidity also supported the growth of securities firms such as HCM City Securities (HCM), Viet Capital Securities (VCI) and VNDirect Securities (VND).

“The market kept its high price level and capital inflow shows no signs of declining, so we are uncertain about when capital will reverse,” Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) said in a note, adding that net foreign capital was another factor that bolstered local market morale.

Foreign investors on Monday bought a net value of VNĐ100 billion in stocks on HoSE. In the first two weeks after the week-long Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday, net foreign purchases on the market reached VNĐ2.7 trillion.

“Technically, the VN-Index has entered its overbought stage after the last nine trading days (since February 12) and its nearest resistance zone is 1,000-1,005 points,” SHS said. “When approaching that resistance zone, the VN-Index will encounter stronger selling pressure and its short-term uptrend may be tackled in that zone.”

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX Index rose 0.74 per cent to end at 107.61 points. The northern market index edged up a total of 0.6 per cent last week.

Nearly 35 million shares were exchanged on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ516 billion. – VNS