An investor watches the market's movements in front of a big screen. — Photo dantri.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The market rose slightly last week, but cautious sentiment capped gains. In the short-term, the VN-Index is expected to escape the downtrend that has lasted since April, said experts.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index ended last week at 1,194.76 points, down 0.31 per cent. The index had broken through the threshold 1,200 points many times, but failed to keep it.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), however, traded at 288.83 points in the last session of last week, a gain of 0.26 per cent.

For the week, the VN-Index rose by 1.3 per cent, while the HNX-Index edged up 1.56 per cent.

Trading value on HoSE decreased by 0.44 per cent over the previous week to VNĐ61.2 trillion (US$2.6 million), equivalent to the volume of more than 2.56 billion shares, a fall of 4.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, the trading value on HNX dropped by 44.9 per cent to VNĐ7.1 trillion, equal to a decline of 33.4 per cent in volume to 335 million shares.

Foreign investors were net buyers on the market last week after net buying 12.4 million shares, worth VNĐ548.5 billion. Of which, they net bought about VNĐ554.9 billion on HoSE and net sold VNĐ15.4 billion in HNX.

In terms of net bought volume, Sacombank (STB) was top with 4.8 million shares, followed by FUESSVFL with 4.2 million fund certificates and Vinamilk (VNM) with 3.2 million shares. On the other side, Hòa Phát Group (HPG) was the stock that was sold the most with 5.7 million shares.

MB Securities JSC (MBS) said that the market enters the semi-annual financial report season, so in general, there will be a divergence, cash flow will then find opportunities in individual stocks.

Similarly, Vietcombank Securities Company (VCBS) said that the divergence and mixed trend among industry groups have contributed positively to the index's rallies in general.

Of which, the market benchmark VN-Index hit 1,170 point-level on July 19, and bottom-fishing demand helped push the market to reverse in the late trade.

The market moved in line with the world stock market, opened gap up in the next session and approached the area of ​​1,200 points, with energy and retail stocks were two groups with the biggest gains of over 6 per cent.

However, investors remained caution in the last two sessions of the week as markets awaited the US Federal Reserve’s decision on an interest rate hike this week.

This week, investors will turn their attention to the macro-economic reports as the country’s figures of the socio-economic situation in July are due.

According to Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS), the VN-Index surpassed the strong short-term resistance area of ​​1,185 points and escaped the downtrend that has lasted since April.

SHS expects the VN-Index to maintain accumulation and retest the short-term support zone of ​​1,185-1,190 points, and continue to recover to test the psychological resistance of 1,200 points and the peak set in 2018 of 1,211 points.

In a long-term prospect, the securities firm believes that the market tends to accumulate gradually, forming an accumulation zone. At the current price range, the market valuation is still low compared to the multi-year average, the market price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is at 13 times while the economic growth is maintained.

The country’s GDP in the second quarter of 2022 advanced by 7.72 per cent, the highest in the past decade, and the GDP in the third quarter of 2022 could be over 9 per cent.

Investors can consider to selectively disburse and accumulate stocks with growth prospects when the price is falling to an attractive levels, SHS recommends. — VNS