Vietnam's Hanoi stock market maintains upwardtrend despite profit-taking pressure

Vietnam's capital Hanoi stock market managed to maintain upward trend during the week although a strong profit-taking pressure was seen on Friday.

Compared to last Friday's closure, this week, the HNX-Index, the benchmark of the Hanoi Stock Exchange, increased by 1.68 points or 2.02 percent on Friday.

This is the second week the HNX-Index has been on upward trend.

During the week, the HNX-Index experienced three ups and two downs, starting from 83.11 points on Monday to hit 85.07 points on Thursday.

In comparison, in the previous trading week, the benchmark ranged between 82.74 points and 83.32 points.

On Friday, the HNX-Index closed at 85 points, down 0.08 points or 0.09 percent against the previous trading session.

A total of over 41.647 million shares worth some 596.513 billion Vietnamese dong (some 26.75 million U.S. dollars) were traded at the Hanoi Stock Exchange on Friday, a decrease of 25.5 percent in volume and 13.2 percent in value against the previous trading session.

Prices of 102 stocks went up; 96 stocks fell down, while 62 stocks remained unchanged.

During the week, over 208.086 million shares worth over 2.703 trillion Vietnamese dong (around 121.21 million U.S. dollars) were traded on the Hanoi bourse.

As of Friday, the HNX-Index advanced 5.04 points or 6.3 percent compared to the last trading session on Dec. 31, 2015.

This week, foreign investors remained to be net-buyers. From Monday to Friday, they bought over 4.34 million shares while selling about 2.99 million shares.

In the previous week, the purchase volume of foreign investors was over 6.95 million shares in buying and over 6.07 million shares in selling.

According to local insiders, the Hanoi Stock Exchange slid on Friday as increased sell orders helped investors book short-term profits after the market earlier witnessed upward trend since last week.

Rising pressure from profit-taking was witnessed since the beginning of Friday trading session. According to some brokerage firms, the decline is normal, especially with the market enjoying consecutive rally.

Financial stocks, led by banks and securities companies, continued to suffer losses, following the significant gains they made recently.

Energy stocks were being traded lower as crude prices retreated from a two-day gain after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made its first cut in production level in the last eight years.

The fall in crude prices pulled down leading oil and gas firms such as PVS (PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation), PVC (Drilling Mud Corporation), and PVB (PetroVietnam Coating Joing Stock Company) among others.

Local analysts advised investors to continue keeping their lists and consider buying more if the prices of such shares become "attractive." Enditem