Hanoi (VNS/VNA) -Vietnamese shares are forecast to move marginally this week as investors couldrealise their earnings after having priced in the growth prospects of both themarket and local stocks. The benchmarkVN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 1.13 percent to close at 1,062.07points. After the last two sessions, it has almost regained a loss of 2.66percent. The minor HNXIndex on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange edged up 0.41 percent to end at 122.39points. The northern market index has increased a total 1.6 percent in thelast two days. Both stockindices posted weekly growth this week with the VN Index rising 1.1 percentafter the last five trading sessions. The figure for the HNX Index is 1.3 percent. More than 387.4million shares were traded in each session last week, worth 9.44 trillion VND (420 million USD). The tradingfigures fell 4.5 percent in volume but increased by 1.9 percent in valuecompared to the previous week. The stockmarket indices increased on a weekly basis as investors were optimistic aboutthe companies’ quarterly and yearly earnings reports and the market outlookthis year. Strongconfidence kept market trading liquidity high as investors continued to lookfor opportunities in stocks that declined on January 17. According toanalysts and securities firms, the stock market will continue to grow in thecoming week but the growth will be narrow as investors try to lock in gainsafter the indices performed well in recent weeks. The benchmarkVN Index has moved up a total 7.9 percent since the beginning of the year andthe HNX Index has increased by 4.7 percent. Investors havemade big profits as they purchased stocks when the benchmark index was risingin the first two weeks. “They tended to lock in profits when bad news appearedand threatened their profitability,” Ngo The Hien, a lead analyst at Saigon-Hanoi Securities Company (SHS) told tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn. Nguyen Hong Khanh, head of market analysis at Sacombank Securities Company (SBS) saidinvestors had priced in local stocks on expectations that both the market andcorporations would perform well. However, theyremained defensive and were willing to offload their portfolios if they saw anynews that could hurt the market, Khanh said. “It’s a normalmarket sentiment at the moment, especially when the stock market is recordingstrong gains recently,” he said. The stockmarket would need to settle at the range of 1,020-1,070 points before making afurther improvement, Hien at SHS said. “The benchmarkVN Index is accumulating at the range of 1,020 and 1,070 points, which werealso the lowest and highest levels of the benchmark last week,” he said. A positivesignal for investors was high trading liquidity, which proved investors werestill attracted to the prospects of the market and stocks and they were willingto bottom-fish stocks that decline, Hien said. However, hewarned that investors should stay calm and avoid making new investmentdecisions as the stock indices were near their resistant levels and the marketwould become volatile in the near future. Khanh at SBSsaid the growth momentum of the market had mainly come from investors’confidence in corporate earnings and such expectations had priced in stocks. “When the companies are about to release their earnings reports, stocks willbe mixed and the market will grow slowly,” he said.-VNA