Photo shows Vinamilk's cattle farm in the southern province of Tây Ninh. Dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) was among the top 10 stocks that negatively affected the VN-Index last week. — VNA/VNS Photo Lê Đức Hoảnh

HÀ NỘI — Shares look set to fluctuate next week due to a lack of supportive information and cautious sentiment triggered by a mixture of news from the world market, brokerages have predicted.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index dropped 0.22 per cent to end Friday at 1,010.03 points.

The southern index lost a total of 1.2 per cent last week.

An average of 288.4 million shares were traded on the southern bourse last week, worth VNĐ5.1 trillion (US$218 million).

According to VNDirect Securities Corporation (VNDS), the VN-Index will fluctuate between 1,010-1,050 points in the second half of the fourth quarter this year.

With a lack of supportive information, the stock market may not witness a strong uptrend like from August 2017 to April 2018, during which the VN-Index reached its all-time peak of 1,200 points.

From now until the end of this year, there will be no attractive IPOs, VNDirect said, adding that loosened foreign ownership limits or a new securities law were unlikely to happen in the near future.

During the period, the main drivers of the market, instead, will come from banking, real estate and retail sectors.

The market is entering a short-term correction. The mixture of good and bad news from the world market will trigger cautious sentiment in the local market. Keeping a high proportion of cash should be a priority for this period, according to vietstock.vn.

Next week, the VN-Index is forecast to test the support zone 1,000-1,008 points, where a recovery is expected. However, after the previous breakout, the market could enter an accumulation phase in 1,000-1,030 points for different stock sectors to establish a new price level before rebounding, Bảo Việt Securities (BVSC) said in its report.

November futures contracts will mature by mid-week, therefore, VN30 blue chips are expected to go through a considerable fluctuation toward the weekend, BVSC said.

Last week marked a negative trading week for the food and beverage sector. Blue-chips like dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), consumer staple firm Masan Group (MSN) and brewery company Sabeco (SAB) all dropped.

The shares of the 'Vin' family performed poorly as IT-real-estate-manufacturing-retail conglomerate Vingroup (VIC) and real estate giant Vinhomes (VHM) dropped.

Banking group also declined with large-caps such as Techcombank (TCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB) and Military Bank (MBB) all plunging.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased 0.2 per cent to end Friday's trading at 106.03 points.

The index slumped 1.16 per cent last week.

According to BVSC, stock exposure should be maintained at 40-50 per cent of the portfolio. Investors may consider opening new buy positions or covering previously sold positions if the market successfully tests the support zone.

Investors with high stock exposure should consider lowering exposure when the market recovers, especially at the resistance zone 1,020-1,025 points, BVSC said. — VNS