HÀ NỘI – Shares concluded the week in opposite directions on the two stock exchanges yesterday as investor confidence weakened on an unstable market outlook.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index advanced 0.66 per cent to close at 952.32 points. The southern market index decreased 0.8 per cent on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange declined for a second straight day, down 0.47 per cent to end at 113.03 points. The northern market index lost 0.8 per cent in the last two sessions.

Large-cap stocks continued to diverge with 18 of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on HCM City’s bourse (VN30) gaining value while 11 fell.

Vietcombank (VCB) and VinGroup (VIC) were the two biggest gainers which largely contributed to the market’s rally yesterday. VCB rallied 4.74 per cent and VIC increased 3.6 per cent. They are two of the top 10 biggest listed stocks by market value.

Other supporters included PV Gas (GAS), IT group FPT (FPT), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and Mobile World Group (MWG) with growth of 0.8-2.3 per cent.

Total trading volume continued to drop, reaching 249 million shares on the two exchanges, down 12.3 per cent from Thursday’s level, but value of trades shot up, touching VNĐ8.7 trillion (US$381.6 million), a rise of 22.5 per cent over the previous session.

The higher number of declining stocks (compared to gaining stocks), accompanied by recent decreased trading volume has led to rising caution among investors, according to analysts at BIDV Securities Company (BSC).

Trade focused on large caps, with the trading value on the VN30 accounting for over 75 per cent of total trading value on HCM City’s exchange.

“We forecast the market will continue to accumulate around 950 points, so investors can spend time looking for opportunities in good fundamental stocks with strong results in the fourth quarter of 2017,” BSC’s analysts wrote in a report yesterday.

The VN-Index has moved around 950 points throughout this week, a rise compared to the 935 points since last Friday but a decrease from the 10-year high of 970 points recorded on December 4.

Market capitalisation reaches 74.6% GDP

Việt Nam’s stock market capitalisation hit VNĐ3.36 quadrillion ($147.4 billion) in 2017, up 73 per cent from the end of 2016, and equivalent to 74.6 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). This number has surpassed the target (market cap to GDP ratio) set for 2020.

This result was announced by the Phạm Hồng Sơn, vice chairman of the State Securities Commission at the yearly review meeting on Thursday.

Liquidity has improved sharply with average trading value reaching almost VNĐ5 trillion per session, a yearly increase of 63 per cent.

The bond market has become more active with total listing value touching over VNĐ1 trillion, up 8 per cent over 2016-end and equal to 23 per cent of GDP. The average trading value was VNĐ8.9 trillion per session, up 38 per cent year-on-year.

The derivative market, which officially came into operation in August this year, has attracted investors with total trading volume reaching over 946,300 contracts and 15,800 trading accounts, a two-fold increase compared to the end of August. – VNS