At a Techcombank office. The bank shares soared 8.4 per cent in total last week to drive the benchmark VN-Index up 0.58 per cent. — Photo ndh.vn

HÀ NỘI — Investors may want to brace for a bumpy trading week as the Vietnamese stock market is still vulnerable to the unpredictability of global shocks in geographic, political and economic conditions.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange increased by total 0.58 per cent to finish last week at 980.00 points.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost total 0.43 per cent to end last week at 102.35 points.

Nearly 206 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ4.52 trillion (US$194.4 million).

The opposition of the two local indices means investors are unsure about the short-term prospects of both global and domestic markets, according to analysts.

Global markets have been swinging as investors are waiting for further actions made by the US and Chinese administrations to resolve their trade tensions.

Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note last week went below the two-year rate to stress investors out about the global economic recession.

International investors then tried to offload their local assets and turned to safer ones to avoid the risks.

In Việt Nam, foreign investors last week net-sold VNĐ834 billion worth of Vietnamese shares. They sold net VNĐ1.04 trillion in the previous week.

The last two weeks of net foreign selling indicates foreign investors are running out of confidence, analysts said.

The Vietnamese stock market is now under heavy pressure from the international political and economic news, said Lê Đức Khánh, director of market strategy department at PetroVietnam Securities (PSI).

The main concern is how the US economy, if it falls, will affect the Vietnamese economy, he said.

That concern is driving the market sentiment and results in the mixed responses among investors, he added.

The US-China trade war and the development of the US benchmark 10-year bond make the global markets quite volatile, Vũ Minh Đức, director of market research and analysis at Việt Capital Securities, told tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.

This week, there is no sign showing the global stocks will settle down, so the Vietnamese shares may continue hovering, he said.

The foundation of the Vietnamese stock market is not stable, so there is little chance for a sustainable short-term uptrend, according to BIDV Securities Corp.

The market will move in a tight range between 970-985 points this week and more declines are expected, Khánh at PSI said.

Last week, the benchmark VN-Index advanced thanks to the growth of bank and consumer stocks. Techcombank shares (TCB) were the best-performing, soaring total 8.4 per cent in the week.

Other bank shares traded in the positive territory included Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Military Bank (MBB), VPBank (VPB) and HDBank (HDB).

Food and beverage producers also performed well. Vinamilk and Masan shares were among the top 10 stocks that had good impact on the market last week, according to vietstock.vn.

According to Nguyễn Trung Du, director of investment department at VNDirect Securities Corp, bank shares are at their one-year lows as worries about the downtrend of the economy and financial sector have sent those stocks' prices too much lower than their actual ones.

The downtrend of the financial sector is a short term story and it cannot be compared to the sector’s positive long-term prospects, he said. “The sector’s future growth will boost the inflow of capital as long-vision investors will see their drops as opportunities for buying in.” — VNS