Hanoi (VNA) - The stock market willlikely remain quiet this week as investors hold back from making furtherpurchases, lowering trading liquidity, brokerage companies say.

The VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange on January20 rose 0.6 percent to finish last week at 686.26 points. Vietnam’s benchmarkindex had a weekly gain of 0.2 percent.

The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange edgedup 0.4 percent to close on January 20 at 83.24 points. The northern marketindex ended slightly lower than the previous week’s level of 83.34 points.

Trading liquidity fell from the previous week.An average of more than 120.8 million shares was exchanged in each session,worth 2.49 trillion VND (110.7 million USD). Daily trading volume dropped 4.9 percentweek on week and daily trading value slid 1 percent.

The slight gain in VN Index and fall of HNXIndex with low trading liquidity after a week was the result of low investorconfidence as the Tet holiday nears, Sai Gon-Hanoi Securities Company (SHS)said in a note.

“In the next three trading sessions, which arealso the last three days of this lunar year, investors will pull out of themarket and the two indices will move sideways.”

Agreeing that the market will be quiet, Bao VietSecurities Company said local stocks were suffering the effect of the Tetholiday as “money tends to flow out so that investors indulge in year-endconsumption,” while some of them are waiting for a “clearer shot” to make theirinvestments.

Lower market trading during these days was alsosimilar to what happened in the last two years near the Tet holiday. Andinactive investors could not motivate the stock indices to increase, Phu HungSecurities Company said.

Facing the current market status, mostsecurities firms are advising clients to hold on to their money and avoidunnecessary and insecure purchases.

Investors interested in “surfing” could takeadvantage of slightly-falling sessions this week to expand their portfolios andcatch up on the earnings reports that listed companies are preparing torelease, SHS said.

To expand the portfolios, margin lendingprovided by securities firms would be a useful tool for those investors, but“margin lending should not be overused….”

According to BIDV Securities Company, investorsmay find opportunities in a quiet market to buy stocks that are expected toprovide positive earnings reports.

“However, investors should consider theiropportunity cost as the Tet holiday is near and trading liquidity risk remainshigh.”

Listed companies that could post high earningsin 2016 include those operating in the steel and construction materials,insurance, construction and energy industries, according to Maritime SecuritiesInc (MSI).

Some of these stocks are: Phuoc Hoa Rubber JSC(PHR), Vietnam-Italy Steel JSC (VIS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well ServicesCorp (PVD) and insurance-finance group Bao Viet Holdings (BVH).-VNA