Strong money inflows helped to sustain the market uptrend last week in spite of an increase in profit-taking pressure following a long rally.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index slowed the weekly gain to just 0.39 percent to close September 5 session at 638.65 points.

Meanwhile, heavy profit-taking on blue chips like PV Gas (GAS), Masan Group (MSN) and VinGroup (VIC) restrained the growth of the VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, to just 0.12 percent to end at 677.62 points.

Growing confidence in the prospect of a long-term uptrend helped keep liquidity at a high level. Nearly 177 million shares averaging 3.22 trillion VND (152.6 million USD) per session were traded on the HCM City market, representing a 6 percent increase over that of last week.

Active buying by foreign investors and securities companies also contributed to the market momentum. Securities companies returned to net buying last week after two net selling weeks, picking shares worth a combined 37 billion VND (1.8 million USD).

Meanwhile, foreigners were responsible for a total net buy value of 248 billion VND (nearly 12 million USD), excluding a net sell value of 214.8 billion VND, or 10.2 million USD, on VIC shares.

Foreign trading is expected to be passionate this month following the portfolio restructuring of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). A series of conferences on foreign investment opportunities which securities firms organised also attracted the market's attention.

FTSE Vietnam ETF, which Deutsche Bank is managing, announced on September 5 its portfolio review in September.

In line with this, Kinh Do Corporation (KDC), a confectionery, and FLC Group (FLC), a real estate company, were added to the FTSE Vietnam Index while logistics company Gemadept (GMD) and Development Investment Construction Company (DIG) were removed because of low liquidity.

News that FLC will be added to the FTSE Vietnam Index also helped maintain FLC as the most active code for the whole week, with tens of million shares being traded each session. The group has just raised its charter capital to nearly 3.45 trillion VND (163.5 million USD), meeting the market capitalisation criterion set by the fund.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 1.52 percent during the week and finished on September 5 at 88.54 points. Liquidity remained high, with nearly 82 million shares worth more than 1 trillion VND (47.4 million USD) changing hands per day.

Oil and gas companies continued to lead the market, with active trading on PetroVietnam Construction Corp (PVX), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS), PetroVietnam Coating Co (PVB) and PetroVietnam Drilling Mud Corp (PVC).

The foreign sector remained the net sellers here for three consecutive weeks. They uploaded another 12.8 billion VND (607,000 USD) worth of shares last week.

According to most stock analysts, the market will continue to rise in the mid- and long-term but will likely face a correction phase in the short term after a long rally. However, this also presents opportunities for new investors to join the market and restructure their portfolios.

"The market scenario early this week will likely go flat or see a slight correction to check the reliability of the support level of 630 points, in order to make sure the market could sustain this uptrend in the short term," FPT Securities Company said in a report.

The company advised investors to consider selling hot stocks like oil and gas, real estate and securities to lock in profits, as these stocks have seen a significant rise in value.-VNA