HÀ NỘI – Stocks on the national exchanges are expected to rise further in the last week of 2017, boosted by positive macro economic development and foreign traders.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange recovered from two declining weeks, gaining 1.83 per cent last week to close at 952.32 points on Friday.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 1.28 per cent after five sessions last week, ending Friday at 113.03 points.

Liquidity declined slightly from the previous session, averaging 242.3 million shares worth VNĐ5.4 trillion (US$237 million) being traded through order matching per session on the two exchanges.

According to Lê Đức Khánh, deputy director at PetroVietnam Securities Inc’s analysis division, Việt Nam’s upbeat economic results in 2017 as well as bright prospects for 2018 will continue to be a major supporting factor for the local stock markets in the medium term.

Việt Nam’s GDP is forecast to meet its annual target of 6.7 per cent by the year-end after recording a sharp increase of 7.4 per cent in the third quarter. The Government will retain the target for 2018, including inflation of below 4 per cent.

Strong foreign capital inflows as well as high credit expansion (about 18 per cent in 2018) are expected to continue supporting market expansion, Khánh said.

In the stock market, large-cap stocks continued to drive the market, mostly oil and gas and bank stocks.

Gains in global oil prices helped push up local oil and gas shares. Though P-shares were not among the top 10 gainers, most of them were among top 30 rising stocks out of over 700 listings in the two markets.

The biggest listed stock, PV Gas (GAS), rallied nearly 7 per cent last week, while Petrolimex (PLX) increased over 6 per cent, and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) gained over 4 per cent.

Other smaller firms, like PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) and PetroVietnam Drilling Mud (PVC), jumped over 13 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the US light crude posted a 2 per cent weekly rise, trading at $58.47 per barrel while the Brent crude gained 3.2 per cent to $65.25 a barrel.

With positive earning prospects, bank stocks also posted a winning week with big lenders such as Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID) and Việt Nam Prosperity Bank (VPB) climbing 4-10 per cent each.

According to Trần Anh Tuấn, head of analysis at Vietcombank Securities Co, the outlook for the banking sector remains positive next year thanks to positive credit growth, supportive policies and banks’ efforts in dealing with bad debts.

“A number of bank shares have gained substantially, and I think bank shares will still be an important sector leading the market uptrend next year,” Tuấn was quoted as saying on securities website tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.

Strong foreign buys

Foreign traders purchased a total net value of over VNĐ1.1 trillion on the two exchanges, with HCM City garnering the lion’s share at VNĐ1.07 trillion.

On the southern bourse, their purchase were focused on steelmaker Hòa Phát Group’s shares, with five consecutive net selling sessions worth a total of VNĐ524 billion.

Statistics show that foreign investors have tended to pour more money in the last week of the year. In six of the last seven years (2010-2016), foreign traders have been net buyers from December 20-31, except in 2011. – VNS