VN-Index recovers nearly 7 points

The stock market closed on November 20th with a return to positive territory for the VN-Index, but the recovery was cautious as capital flows continued to weaken significantly. At the close, the VN-Index rose 6.99 points, or 0.42%, to 1,655.99 points. However, market breadth leaned heavily towards selling, with 179 declining stocks compared to only 120 rising stocks, reflecting the cautious sentiment of investors after recent sharp fluctuations.

Despite weak domestic capital flows, the VN-Index remained positive thanks to large-cap stocks and net buying by foreign investors.

Liquidity on the HoSE exchange reached only VND 19,675 billion, a decrease of over 19% compared to the previous session. Combining both HoSE and HNX exchanges, the total trading value reached VND 17,783 billion, the lowest level since the beginning of May 2025. Although trading volume improved by 43% in the afternoon session compared to the morning, overall cash flow remained weak as buyers were cautious and sellers were reluctant to offload their holdings at any cost. Block trades recorded nearly VND 2,900 billion, accounting for a large proportion, indicating that technical and portfolio restructuring activities predominated over strong speculative capital flows.

Although the green color hasn't spread widely, the VN30 group has become a crucial support helping the VN-Index maintain its momentum. Most notably, VIC shares surged strongly in the afternoon session, rising 3.4% to 228,000 VND/share and contributing nearly 7 points to the VN-Index – the largest contribution to the market today. This is considered a decisive factor in keeping the VN-Index in positive territory.

SHB was the most notable development in the banking sector. The stock unexpectedly received strong buying pressure after 2 PM, reversing from a more than 1% drop to a 1.22% increase. Trading volume in the afternoon alone reached VND 942.9 billion, bringing SHB's total trading value for the day to VND 1,372 billion – the highest in the market. However, SHB is not a leading stock, so its impact on the index was limited.

In the aviation sector, VJC became the "star" as it continued to hit the ceiling price for the second consecutive session, reaching 190,400 VND/share, with over 3 million units traded and nearly 300,000 shares remaining at the ceiling price. This is one of the rare VN30 stocks that maintained strong upward momentum amidst a divergent overall market.

In contrast to the divergence among blue-chip stocks, the plastics sector saw a strong surge across the board. AAA and APH both rose by approximately 6%, with AAA recording explosive trading volume of 11.7 million units – its highest level in several months. HII even hit its ceiling price in the morning session, maintaining a buy order at the ceiling price of over 1.5 million units until the end of the session. NHH and PLP also saw positive gains, demonstrating that capital is flowing towards sectors benefiting from lower input material costs.

In addition, many small and midcap stocks surged, such as HID, VTB, ICT, and HII, all hitting their upper limit. Stocks like APH, NHH, OCG, TV2, DHA, DLG, CRC, and KBC also recorded gains of 2% or more.

The banking sector generally saw mixed trading but still had some bright spots. SHB led the market in liquidity. VPB and HDB both rose 1.6% with high liquidity, indicating that capital flows still favor stocks with unique stories or strong fundamentals.

Conversely, the securities sector faced downward pressure after the previous surge. VIX – the most liquid stock in the sector with nearly 38 million shares traded – fell 1.8%; SSI, VCI, and HCM declined slightly by less than 2%. The steel sector also saw widespread declines, with HPG losing 1.3% with over 23 million shares traded; HSG and NKG fell more sharply due to profit-taking pressure.

Overall, 73 stocks fell by more than 1%, further causing losses for many investors after the market had just experienced a sharp correction in the previous session.

A notable highlight of today's session came from foreign investors. While they were still net sellers of VND 350 billion in the morning, foreign investors unexpectedly returned to net buying of VND 643.6 billion on the HoSE this afternoon. Overall for the day, foreign investors made slight net purchases, marking the first net buying session after a series of 11 large-scale net selling sessions.

VPB saw the strongest net buying with VND 180.5 billion, followed by VIC (+123.6 billion). A series of other large-cap stocks also received investment, including SSI (+134.6 billion), VIX (+82.2 billion),FPT (+76.3 billion), MSN (+71.6 billion), and HDB (+68.7 billion). Conversely, VCI experienced further net selling of VND 73 billion, MWG (-92.1 billion), MBB (-90.3 billion), and PNJ (-68.3 billion).

The total value of foreign disbursements reached VND 2,334 billion, which is not large compared to the overall average, but accounts for nearly 12% of total HoSE transactions due to weak domestic liquidity.

On the HNX, the HNX-Index edged down 0.3% to 264.23 points with a trading volume of over 1,158 billion VND. SHS led with 10.7 million units traded but still saw a slight decline; PVS, IDC, and CEO all retreated. CTP attracted attention by hitting the ceiling price with a trading volume of over 1.3 million units.

On UPCoM, the index declined slightly; MZG led in liquidity but fell by more than 10%. ABB recovered positively, rising 2.1%, while VNP, a plastics company, increased 5% with significantly improved liquidity.

Despite the VN-Index rising nearly 7 points, the market still showed clear signs of indecision with very low liquidity and a selling-side bias. The recovery was mainly driven by a few key stocks such as VIC, VJC, and the banking sector, while many other sectors continued to diverge. Domestic investors remained on the sidelines, but the return of net buying by foreign investors after 11 consecutive selling sessions raises expectations that foreign capital flows are gradually stabilizing, creating a foundation for more positive market movement in the coming sessions.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/vn-index-hoi-phuc-gan-7-diem-173885.html