Stock indexes tumbled last week, following concerns about oil prices on the global market. However, the highlight was that bottom-fishing made a come back as oil and gas shares rebounded.

The VN-Index declined strongly compared to the previous week’s close, losing 5.6 percent to 523.09 points, while the HNX-Index slid 3.8 percent to 81.32 points.

Further, average trading values were 2.55 trillion VND (119.7 million USD) and 875.6 billion VND (41.1 million USD), respectively, on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and Hanoi Stock Exchange.

On the global market, oil prices continued to hit new lows. Meanwhile, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said its members would not reduce output, even as the price might fall to 40 USD per barrel, causing surpluses in supplies. Bao Viet Securities Company's analyst Tran Duc Anh believed that this would continue to be a factor to identify this week's trend.

The decrease in shares, such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling Services (PVD), PetroVietnam General Services (PET), Petroleum Equipment Assembly and Metal (PXS), PetroVietnam Engineering Consultancy (PVE) and PetroVietnam Coating (PVB), has had adverse impacts on overall transactions, rapidly causing a fall in other shares.

However, the decline in energy stocks showed signs of leveling off on December 17, but could not help benchmark indexes due to massive sell-offs on mid-cap stocks. Oil and gas stocks then witnessed positive trading toward the end of the week, especially the largest companies, such as GAS and PVD.

Meanwhile, the overall market increased on December 18, before falling again. During the following session, the market was partly affected by activities of exchange-traded funds on influential stocks, including Vietcombank (VCB), private equity group Masan (MSN), Pha Lai Thermalpower (PPC) and property developers Vingroup (VIC) and FLC Group (FLC).

Also last week, foreign investors sold a net of nearly 548 billion VND (25.7 million USD) on both exchanges.-VNA