Large-cap firms to drive market up, but performance would be narrow

Large-cap firms to drive market up, but performance would be narrow

HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares are expected to continue rising as blue chips still had room for further growth, but that growth would be marginal, securities specialists said.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange advanced 0. 三0 per cent to close Friday at  九 九 六. 五 七 points, totalling a weekly gain of 0. 七 四 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched up 0.0 七 per cent to close at  一0 四. 七 一 points. The HNX-Index dropped 0. 七 三 per cent last week.

An average of nearly  二 一 四 million shares was traded each day last week, worth VNĐ 四. 二 八 trillion (US$ 一 八 四 million).

With about one-third of the top  三0 largest companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity having released Q 三 earnings reports, there is still room for growth.

Most of those firms were profitable in the third quarter of the year such as brewer Sabeco (SAB), Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB), Military Bank (MBB), tech group FPT Corp (FPT) and Phú Nhuận Jewellery JSC (PNJ).

Other large-cap firms that are expected to deliver good results for the third quarter include realty firms Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retails (VRE) and Vinhomes (VHM), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), food company Masan (MSN) and retailer Mobile World Investment Corp (MWG).

According to Lê Đức Khánh, director of strategic investment at PetroVietnam Securities Corp, banks and tech firms had outperformed other sectors in the last two quarters.

Those companies could also maintain the momentum in the final months of the year thanks to the positive outlook of the Vietnamese economy, he said.

“That’s the reason why the VN-Index can beat the  一,000 point level and rise towards  一, 一00 points at the end of  二0 一 九.”

With good performances in the third quarter, large-caps still had room to grow, Nguyễn Thế Minh, director of market analysis at Yuanta Securities Co, said.

They would also benefit from the amended Law of Securities, which was expected to be approved by the National Assembly in November and would increase the foreign ownership cap in some sectors, he added.

Market conditions proved investors were quite confident and were not being overwhelmed by external factors (such as trade wars and geo-political tensions), investor and specialist Nguyễn Hữu Bình said.

However, investors remained cautious so capital flow would be modest, he said, adding it would be difficult to find a group of stocks to lead the market at the moment.

The market would struggle in the early trading days of the week before continuing to move up at the weekend, Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC) said in a note.

Banks, property firms and retailers may continue their uptrends, the company said.

In a different scenario, KB Vietnam Securities Co (KBSV) forecast bank stocks had been priced in and would have troubles leading the market in the coming week.

It meant investors would sell once earnings reports were released, which would not create momentum for the stock market, it said.

The VN-Index would struggle with mixed performances between different groups of stocks, which depended on the results and prospects of quarterly corporate earnings, KBSV said. – VNS