A customer makes transactions at Saigon Securities Inc's trading house. SSI hit the ceiling growth of 7 per cent yesterday. — Photo vietnamfinance.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares continued to rally on Friday as Việt Nam’s benchmark VN-Index is reaching an important milestone of 1,400 points, but liquidity showed signs of weakening, showing investors’ timidity around the peak.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index increased 0.75 per cent to close the week at 1,390.12 points. The southern market’s index finished the week up 1 per cent.

The VN30 which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity successfully overcame the milestone of 1,500 points as two thirds of the stocks in the basket gained value.

Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) was the biggest gainer, hitting the ceiling growth of 7 per cent to close at VNĐ53,700 (US$2.32).

Big gainers included PV Gas (GAS), HDBank (HDB), Khang Điền House Trading and Investment (KDH), Vietcombank (VCB), Novaland Investment (NVL), Phát Đạt Real Estate Development (PDR), Vinamilk (VNM) and Techcombank (TCB) with increases of between 1-6 per cent each.

However, though the VN-Index is setting a new high, the trading volume is decreasing in recent sessions and remains below the recent average of 20 sessions.

More than 598 million shares worth VNĐ19 trillion ($823.3 million) were traded on Friday, of which over 518 million shares worth VNĐ16.6 trillion were exchanged through order matching method, the lowest level since February 26 this year.

According to some market insiders, high level of margin (borrowing money from brokerage companies to trade) at securities companies have raised concerns over a strong correction which is reflected in declining money entering the market at this time.

Data on stockbiz.vn showed that the margin balance has continuously increased in recent years. As of May 31, 2021, the margin balance of the whole market has reached more than VNĐ112 trillion ($4.8 billion), an increase of VNĐ31.2 trillion compared to the end of 2020 and up VNĐ10.7 trillion against the end of the first quarter this year.

According to Phạm Hồng Sơn, vice chairman of the State Securities Commission, the strong growth of the market is leading to an increase in margin loans. Many securities companies have also been preparing plans to increase charter capital to serve rising loan demand in the future.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index advanced 1 per cent to close Friday at 318.22 points.

More than 118 million shares worth VNĐ2.9 trillion were traded in the northern market.

According to analysts at Viet Dragon Securities Co (VDSC), many stocks still weakened and there was not any main leading groups which led to a disoriented market and the cash flow still timidly entered the market.

“Under this condition, investors need to observe and wait for a clearer movement of cash flow to participate, or look for opportunities of stocks with positive Q2 business results,” said Bảo Nguyễn, VDSC’s stock analyst. — VNS