Workers at Dung Quất Oil Refinery in the central province of Quảng Ngãi, operated by Bình Sơn Refining and Petrochemical JSC (BSR). BSR was up 2.1 per cent last week. — Photo bsr.com.vn

HÀ NỘI - Market analysts forecast that buying demand will stay relatively high and the cash flow is looking for opportunities. Therefore, the VN-Index may continue to set new historical peaks this week.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) gained 0.75 per cent to end Friday at 1,473.37 points.

The index had gained 1.16 per cent last week.

An average of 1 billion shares were traded on the southern exchange during each session last week, worth VNĐ31 trillion (US$1.4 billion).

MB Securities Joint Stock Company (MBS) said the VN-Index had gained for the third consecutive week last week. The average liquidity in the last two weeks reached 1 billion shares per session in volume and VNĐ29.2 trillion in value.

Notably, cash flow still focused on small and medium-sized stocks, especially highly speculative stocks on UPCOM.

“Technically, the VN-Index is at a new peak, the cash flow is still very abundant when the declines in the session only happened in a short time,” it said.

Mirae Asset Securities (Vietnam) Co Ltd said that the uptrend of VN-Index would persist and the index might continue to move towards the resistance level of 1,500 points this week.

Among the group of 10 stocks with the biggest influence on VN-Index last week, mid-cap stocks outperformed the blue-chips, it said.

Specifically, real estate companies Geleximco (GEX) and Investment and Construction Development Joint Stock Corporation (DIG) recorded increases of 25.8 per cent and 27.5 per cent, respectively, much higher than the large-cap codes such as Vietcombank (VCB), which increased by only 0.7 per cent, or Mobile World Group (MWG) rising 3 per cent.

The low-priced stock group also had many strong gainers such as Tân Tạo Investment and Industry Corporation (ITA), up 27.8 per cent, and Hoàng Anh Gia Lai JSC (HAG) up 32.8 per cent.

Foreign investors maintained a net selling position with a value of nearly VNĐ1.3 trillion during the week. SSI Securities Co (SSI) and PAN Group (PAN) were the two stocks that were sold the most with a value of VNĐ373 billion and VNĐ316 billion, respectively.

In terms of industry, oil and gas stocks increased the most last week with gainers of Bình Sơn Refinery (BSR) up 2.1 per cent, PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC) gaining 2.2 per cent, Petrovietnam Transportation Corporation (PVT) rising 2.8 per cent, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) up 3.8 per cent,  PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) climbing 4.1 per cent and Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) up 11.3 per cent.

Real estate stocks also outperformed with gainers of Novaland (NVL) up 1 per cent, Khang Điền House (KDH) rising 2.7 per cent, and Nam Long Group (NLG) rising 15.8 per cent.

They were followed by securities stocks such as Việt Capital Inc (VCI) up 0.4 per cent, Saigon Hanoi Securities (SHS) gaining 3 per cent, SSI Securities Inc (SSI) climbing 4 per cent and VNDirect (VND) up 8.5 per cent.

Experts from SHS said liquidity last week was recorded at the second highest in history, showing that the buying demand was relatively high and the cash flow was still in the market to look for opportunities.

From a technical point of view, VN-Index was moving toward 1,540 points. Therefore, there was still room to increase, so VN-Index might continue to increase to reach new highs this week with the closest resistance of 1,500 points. However, shaking sessions could occur during this process. VNS