Daily Market Watch 21/08/2025: Banking Stocks Led The Index, The Remaining Were Struggle

MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

o       The market opened in a bullish momentum as investors were confident that the adjustment could be over after yesterday's recovery. Banking stocks continued to be the key driver today. All 27 listed. banks across exchanges advanced in the morning. 24 stocks increased over 2%, while OCB, STB, TPB, VIB, and MSBhit their ceiling prices (+7%)

o       Stock prices faced heavy pressures in the afternoon as profit taking was strong. Investors were focusing too much on banks as the rally of the sector was rather strong in the last few days. They switched. their porfolio to banking stocks and sell other names. As a results, the majority of stocks in other sectors tumbled amid strong banking rally.

o       Several other blue-chip stocks also surged in late afternoon, which together pushed the Index up sharply. Some stocks such as VIC, VHM, VPB, FPT, MWG went up between 1%-4% just in the afternoon. session. This broad-based blue-chip strength boosted the VN-Index to close at 1,688, up 23.64 points (+1.4%).

o       Despite the sharp Index gain, market breadth was notably weak, with 214 stocks declining against 118 advancers. This highlight rising portfolio vulnerability, as the gains remain narrowly concentrated in. financials and several other large-cap stocks. Investors that do not hold a high weighting in banking would face losses today.

o       The VN30 Index outperformed with a 2.5% gain, mainly driven by banking stocks. Meanwhile, mid- and small-cap stocks came under heavy selling pressure. The mid-cap VNMID index slipped 0.5% and. small-cap VNSML basket was down 1.5%.

o       Liquidity remained elevated, though easing slightly by 6% versus the prior session. Foreign investors continued their strong selling pressure, offloading USD 93 million on HoSE. This brought month-to-date net foreign outflows to USD 1.16 billion. This rally is all retail-driven. We saw premium prices in most FOL stocks faded to almost zero due to this notable outflows from foreign investors.