The stock market has gone through a week of struggling trading as cautious sentiment continues to dominate. Although the week started with a positive increase, the demand was not strong enough, causing the VN-Index to quickly return to an adjustment state. The index then continuously weakened with liquidity remaining low, despite large pillars still alternating to keep the pace.
After many challenges, the VN-Index lost 1,320 points in the trading session at the end of the week on March 28 due to pressure from the bluechip group. At the end of the last week of March, the VN-Index stopped at 1,317.46 points.
The trading volume remained below the 20-day average, showing the cautious sentiment of investors, especially after the previous strong increase.
In terms of impact, VCB, FPT and HPG are the stocks with the most negative impacts, causing the VN-Index to lose more than 3 points. Meanwhile, VIC is a rare bright spot contributing nearly 1 increase to the general index.
Foreign investors continued to maintain their net selling momentum with a value of nearly VND 2,381 billion on both exchanges last week. Of which, foreign investors net sold more than VND 2,285 billion on the HOSE and more than VND 95 billion on the HNX. Net selling pressure from foreign investors also contributed to increasing pressure on the VN-Index. If this trend continues, the risk of adjustment will increase.
Commenting on market developments last week, Dr. Nguyen Duy Phuong - Strategic Investment Director of DG Capital - said that after a period of strong increase since the beginning of the year, investors have been somewhat more reserved and are waiting for more clear signals from the market. Many people would even choose to stand outside to observe instead of pouring money in immediately. On the other hand, this period of time falls into the " left information area" period. The business results of the fourth quarter of 2024 have been revealed, while the report for the first quarter of 2025 has not been published, therefore, the lack of good information from businesses makes cash flow lack momentum.
However, low liquidity at this time is not necessarily a negative thing. The market decreased with low liquidity, on the contrary, it was quite healthy, showing that the selling pressure was not too great. The market has only had the first small waves after a long period of moving sideways with gloomy liquidity. It is the waves that occur in suspicion and cautious psychology, so the high cash ratio and margin have not increased sharply, which is a positive index that helps the market increase substantially, said Dr. Phuong.
Overall, the current context is relatively bright for the stock market channel, with expectations for economic growth, public investment and market upgrading. However, risks remain with external factors, most notably trade wars.
Experts recommend that unexpected declines can easily cause investors to lose interest. Therefore, investors need to limit the use of margin so that assets can increase sustainably.
