The stock market suddenly showed signs of recovery quite early in today's session (August 18), when green color spread on the electronic board, with the oil and gas group being the main driving force, in which the pair GAS, BSR was the focus when there was new information related to divestment from PVN. However, liquidity was not commensurate with the index's upward momentum when it still only stopped at a low level, demand mostly only stopped at the exploration level.
Closing the session on August 18, VN-Index increased by 4.56 points (+0.26%), to 1,732.02 points. Total trading volume reached more than 550.4 million units, worth 14,872.4 billion VND, a slight increase of 5% in volume and 7% in value compared to yesterday's session. Block transactions contributed more than 102 million units, worth 3,459 billion VND.
On HOSE, there is no code matching billions of VND orders. VIC continues to lead liquidity with 860 billion VND, followed by SHB, BSR and VPB.
Foreign investors extended the 4-session consecutive net withdrawal streak. This group disbursed less than VND 1,200,000, the lowest in a month and a half, while selling nearly VND 2,000 billion.
Leading oil and gas stocks all traded excitedly. In addition to Petrolimex closing the session at the ceiling price and having a buy order surplus of more than 4 million units, pillar codes such as GAS, BSR, OIL... all increased by no less than 2% compared to the reference price.
According to statistics, oil and gas stocks contributed about 5 points to the VN-Index. The wave of increase is in line with the developments of world crude oil prices. The risk of supply disruption due to re-occurring Middle East tensions is the main reason pushing Brent prices above 90 USD per barrel, while US WTI crude oil also rose to nearly 86 USD, the highest since the beginning of the month.
The banking stock group sank into red. For example, TCB decreased by 3%, while other medium and large-cap stocks such as LPB, ACB, TPB, EIB decreased by 0.5-2%.
In the securities group, sellers also have an advantage. A series of pillar codes such as SSI, VIX, VCI, VCK, HCM and VND closed the session below the reference level by 1-2%. TCX is among the few stocks that reversed the trend, increasing by 1.5% to nearly 40,000 VND.
Two pillar stocks related to Vingroup, including VIC and VHM, are pillars for both real estate and market stock groups, increasing by 1% and 1.5% respectively.
Market developments show that investor sentiment is still very cautious ahead of FTSE Russell announcing the semi-annual review results. This is reflected in market liquidity of less than 15,000 billion VND, equivalent to the first session of the week. A large-cap basket contributed more than half, reaching over 8,500 billion VND.
Many experts believe that the shaky and cautious state may continue in the coming time, but at the present time, this should not be considered the beginning of a new downward trend. After a period of increasing from the bottom of 1,650 points to nearly 1,800 points, the market adjustment, especially in large-cap stocks and groups that have increased a lot before, is a relatively normal development.
In the short term, 1,700-1,720 points is a noteworthy support zone, while the 1,735-1,750 point zone will be a near resistance after VN-Index loses MA20. More important than the point level itself is how the market reacts when testing the support zone.
Positive signals do not necessarily have to be a strong increase session. Investors need to observe three factors: whether selling pressure is weakening or not, whether market breadth has improved, and whether leading groups are stable before the index or not. If the market has withdrawal sessions, liquidity is well absorbed, and large-cap, banking, and securities groups do not continue to create new bottoms, the possibility of forming a short-term balance zone will be higher.
Conversely, if VN-Index penetrates 1,700 points with strong liquidity increase and width continuing to worsen, the correction process may still be prolonged. Therefore, focus on observing the quality of supply and demand and the relative strength of the leading group, instead of just looking at the number of points of VN-Index's increase and decrease.
