After five consecutive weeks of downward adjustments, Việt Nam's stock market is gradually regaining investor confidence, ending the week of August 19-23 with the strongest gains since early July.

Investors follow market movements at MBS Securities. — VNA/VNS Photo

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index closed the week at 1,285.32 points, while the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) ended at 240.07 points.

Both indices recorded weekly gains, with the VN-Index increasing by 2.6 per cent and the HNX-Index by 2.09 per cent.

The average daily transaction value across the market was VNĐ17.78 trillion (US$711.65 million) per session, a 19.08 per cent increase compared to the VNĐ14.93 trillion recorded in the previous week.

Additionally, trading volume remained above the 20-day average, indicating that investors are becoming more active. Capital continued to flow into real estate stocks, helping this sector shine for the second consecutive week.

However, the net selling pressure from foreign investors over the past week could pose a challenge for the index in maintaining its upward momentum. Foreign investors net sold more than VNĐ1.2 trillion on both exchanges last week, with nearly VNĐ968 billion net sold on HoSE and around VNĐ255 billion on HNX.

According to Việt Nam Construction Securities Joint Stock Company (CSI), the VN-Index reversed its trend and ended in positive territory during the last session of the week, with a slight increase in liquidity compared to the previous session, indicating that the positive trend still prevails, despite heightened profit-taking pressure.

Notably, the late-session surge in the market's sensitivity to the rise of the securities and steel sectors, with increases of 0.91 per cent and 1.34 per cent, respectively, suggests that the upward trend is likely to continue in the coming sessions.

Experts from Rồng Việt Securities (VDSC) noted that the market found support as it neared the 1,275-point level and recovered. The increase in liquidity during the last session of the week suggested that cash flow was still supporting the market as supply gradually increased.

Currently, there is no signal of a downtrend, so the market's hesitation appears to be a test of the breakout signal at 1,275 points, according to VDSC. The market is expected to continue finding support during pullbacks and still has the potential to reach the peak of 1,305 points in the near future.

VNDirect Securities Corporation said that the market maintained an impressive uptrend last week, as the VN-Index continuously surpassed the 1,260 and 1,270-point levels, nearing the strong resistance zone of 1,290 - 1,300 points.

The market showed signs of slowing down in the last two sessions of the week as it approached the aforementioned resistance level, while also awaiting updates from US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell on future monetary policy during the annual Jacksonville conference.

Although it is almost certain that the Fed will proceed with an interest rate cut in the September meeting (which has already been priced in), the market's current focus is on the extent and pace of rate cuts by the Americans in the remaining part of this year. The market currently expects the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate by around 0.75 - 1 per cent by the end of the year.