Vietnam Insight

The market is pricing in an approximately 92% probability of a Fed rate hike on Wednesday. US stock futures steadied on Tuesday after the major averages came under pressure at the start of the week, weighed down by a selloff in semiconductor stocks amid growing safety concerns in artificial intelligence development. In regular trading on Monday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.56%, while the S&P 500 and Dow declined 0.48% and 0.29%, respectively. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slower pace of AI development to address risks posed by increasingly capable models, with OpenAI and xAI CEOs Sam Altman and Elon Musk supporting the view. Chipmakers bore the brunt of the selling, including Nvidia (-3.4%), Micron (-5.3%), Sandisk (-5%), AMD (-4.4%) and Intel (-5.6%). Investors also contended with elevated oil prices and rising Treasury yields ahead of an expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve this week. Markets are pricing in roughly a 92% probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike by the Fed on Wednesday.

Sideways trading within a wide range, return to the 1,800 area. The VN-Index ended the trading session at 1,788.23 points (-6.98 points, -0.39%), with trading volume above the 20-session average. There were 85 gainers and 229 decliners during the session. GAS, BSR, and SSB were the top positive contributors to the index, while VIC, HPG, and DMX weighed on the index. Foreign investors posted VND 825 billion in net buying, mainly concentrated in FPT and VPB.

Trading Strategy: Investors should remain patient and wait for low-volume volatility/corrections to identify suitable entry points. The preferred strategy is to focus on stocks that have not risen significantly, have established accumulation bases, solid business fundamentals, reasonable valuations, and strong participation from foreign investors.

Sell Recommendation: NVL MBB

Current portfolio: MBB, VRE, NVL; Watchlist: HPG, REE, BVH, GAS and securities stock (HCM, SSI, VCI…)