Vietnam Insight

▶ The market experienced the first trading session of the Lunar new year covered in red. Although it opened with a 6-point gap down, the index quickly weakened due to strong selling pressure and ended the session with a 12 point decrease. Liquidity did not fluctuate much with the trading value remained stable compared to the previous session. Foreign investors’ net selling value increased sharply with the focus on stocks in VN30 group.

▶ At the end of the trading session, VN-Index decreased by 12.02 points (-0.95%), reaching 1,253.03 points; HNX-Index increased by 0.48 points (0.21%), reaching 223.49 points. Market liquidity reached 15.35 trillion VND, which was equivalent to about 633.44 million shares being traded. Foreign net sold 1,461 billion VND, mainly concentrated in FPT, VNM and VND.

▶ Technical perspective: VNIndex opened the trading session with a gap down and was covered in red throughout the day. The index closed the day with a candle supporting the selling side when approaching the previous trading zone of 1,270. However, liquidity was around the average level, which was indicative of no strong selling factors. The MACD maintained a positive reversal signal below the zero line, showing that VNIndex was still recovering from 1,225 points. In the following sessions, VNIndex is likely to retest demand at 1,250 points and form the short-term trend afterwards. In a positive scenario, VNIndex will establish a green candle with a wide body in the following sessions, confirm the control of the buying side and move towards retesting the old peak of 1,300. In a more negative scenario, VNIndex will continue to decrease sharply with a wide body candle, losing the uptrend on both daily and weekly charts; then the next support will be the 1,180 - 1,200 point zone. 

Strategy: The market is following the main sideways trend. For short-term trading strategy, investors should consider disbursing around the 1,240 point area and gradually take profits when the index approachs 1,300 points. With a buy and hold strategy, investors should disburse strongly when the VN-Index breaks out and successfully upholds the 1,300 point area.