VN-Index "lucky" at the beginning of the year, active trading

VN-Index recovers positively; 4 potential industry groups in 2025; Dividend payment schedule; Mixed developments of Mobile World retail chain; Stock market "gets lucky" at the beginning of the year of the Snake.

VN-Index traded at 1,260 points

VN-Index entered the year of At Ty with the index trading at 1,259 points after ending the last trading session of the year of Giap Thin 2024 on January 24.

Meanwhile, the HNX and UPCoM indexes stopped at 222 points and 94.11 points, respectively.

Red temporarily dominates pillar stocks in the VN30 group, typically real estate, financial services, telecommunications - technology groups.

On the contrary, the industrial sector is leading the good growth group in the market when most of the codes are in the green, with a contribution of 0.36% to the main index. Following that, the essential and non-essential consumer groups are also dyed in green. Notably, MSN (Masan, HOSE) increased by 2.29%,

Foreign investors net sold more than 112 billion VND, the focus was on FPT (FPT, HOSE) or FRT (FPT Retail, HOSE). On the contrary, on the buying side, this group of investors strongly bought HDB (HDBank, HOSE) and MSN (Masan, HOSE).

At the beginning of the year of the Snake, Vietnam has 6 USD billionaires

Recently, according to an update from Forbes Magazine on the assets of Vietnamese businessmen at the beginning of the year of the Snake, Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang, Chairman of Masan Group (MSN, HOSE) has returned to the list of USD billionaires after losing this position before the Lunar New Year holiday.

Thus, currently, Vietnam has 6 USD billionaires on Forbes' billionaire list, including:

Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong, Chairman of Vingroup Corporation (VIC) and CEO of VinFast (VFS) with assets worth 4.1 billion USD, ranked down from 839 to 842 in the world compared to last year.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Chairwoman of VietJet Air (VJC, HOSE) with assets at 2.8 billion USD.

Mr. Tran Ba Duong, Chairman of Thaco Truong Hai and his family recorded assets remaining at 1.3 billion USD.

Mr. Ho Hung Anh, Chairman of Techcombank (TCB, HOSE) recorded assets of 1.8 billion USD.

Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of Hoa Phat Group (HPG, HOSE) with assets up to 2.3 billion USD.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang, Chairman of Masan Group with assets of around 1 billion USD.

Accordingly, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong is still the richest person on the Forbes list, as well as according to assets converted from stocks listed on the Vietnamese stock market. Mr. Vuong has held the number 1 position since 2010 until now.

The positions of many Vietnamese billionaires in the Forbes list tend to decline because the world recorded more stock market sessions increasing than decreasing during the period when Vietnam was on Tet holiday. However, the change was not much, and Vietnamese billionaires were still at the bottom of the list.

In 2025, many expect that large Vietnamese corporations will continue to make breakthroughs when the economy is forecast to rely on consumption growth, public investment, real estate instead of exports and tourism like last year. If consumption grows strongly, many large corporations will benefit and can make breakthroughs.

Mixed developments in business situation of Mobile World retail chains

Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG, HOSE) has just announced the performance of its retail chains in 2024. Accordingly, currently, only An Khang pharmacy chain has not made a profit, while Bach Hoa Xanh, Erablue (Indonesia) and AVAKids have all made a profit.

Chứng khoán tuần 3/2 – 7/2/2025: VN-Index — An Khang Pharmacy is currently the only retail chain of MWG that has not yet made a profit (Photo: An Khang Pharmacy)

According to the consolidated financial report for the fourth quarter of 2024, An Khang Pharma Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company recorded an accumulated loss of up to VND 1,008 billion after 5 consecutive years of losses. Last year, the chain lost an additional VND 347 billion, but the loss was significantly reduced to VND 26 billion in the fourth quarter thanks to a series of restructuring measures.

In terms of revenue, An Khang reached nearly VND2,300 billion, up 3% compared to 2023. The company has closed ineffective stores and focused on increasing revenue at each point of sale by improving product portfolio, display and consulting quality. As a result, in the fourth quarter, average revenue per store increased by 15% compared to the previous two quarters.

To achieve the target for the second quarter of 2025, MWG continues to apply the "slow but steady" criteria to ensure sustainable business efficiency, from which An Khang will reach the break-even point after completing the drug portfolio, improving pharmaceutical expertise and optimizing operations.

4 industries recommended for investment in 2025

According to many assessments and expectations, this year, technology businesses will have attractive investment opportunities thanks to the strong development of the technology industry with emerging fields such as data centers, semiconductors, AI (artificial intelligence) and 5G, ... serving the digital economy and digital transformation. Specifically, the Vietnamese data center market reached 557 million USD in 2022, expected to grow at a CAGR (compound growth rate) of over 10.8% until 2029, reaching 1.14 billion USD.

Some reference codes:

FPT (FPT Corporation , HOSE) forecasts that telecommunications revenue will increase by 9.5% in 2025 and 9.1% in 2026 thanks to the expansion of data centers and recovery in online advertising, and cooperation with NVIDIA (the world's leading chip maker) will boost long-term revenue growth for FPT in the period 2025-2030.

CTR (Viettel Construction Joint Stock Corporation , HOSE ) with the direction of promoting the 5G commercial wave is the main growth driver for CTR when more BTS stations are installed.

For the TowerCo segment (investing in leasing telecommunications infrastructure), CTR is one of two main businesses operating in the industry.

Next is the banking industry as it is still the key industry of the economy with bank profits continuing to grow the best in the market compared to other industries. In 2024, pre-tax profits will grow by 15% over the same period; in 2025, it is expected to grow better, about 17.7%.

Some reference codes:

CTG (VietinBank , HOSE ) expects that in 2025, after-tax profit will increase to 26.2% year-on-year thanks to net interest income and non-interest income growing by 24.9% and 18.5% year-on-year.

HDB (HDBank , HOSE) expects its 2025 after-tax profit to accelerate to 29.7% year-on-year, mainly thanks to a forecast 47.4% increase in non-interest income while net interest income decelerates slightly.

TCB (Techcombank , HOSE ) is forecast to maintain the same growth rate in 2025 as in 2024 thanks to higher growth in non-interest income while net interest income has a lower growth rate than the previous year. Provision expenses are forecast to decrease slightly thanks to bad debt being controlled below 1%.

MBB (MBBank , HOSE ) with credit growth among the highest in the industry, MBB has recovered well in 2024 and is expected to continue to contribute positively to non-interest income.

For the securities industry that benefits from the market upgrade story, some codes that can be referred to are: SSI (SSI Securities , HOSE ) ; HCM (Ho Chi Minh City Securities , HOSE), VCI (Vietcap Securities , HOSE ) ;...

Finally, the real estate sector, with residential real estate supply recovering, although still modest. Valuations of the residential real estate sector are currently relatively low, and the possibility of re-valuation of residential real estate stocks to be more appropriate. The industry outlook is showing positive signs.

Some reference codes: KDH (Khang Dien Group , HOSE ) ; PDR (Phat Dat Real Estate Development Joint Stock Company , HOSE ) ;...

Comments and recommendations

Ms. Nguyen Phung Yen, Investment Consultant , Mirae Asset Securities , assessed that after the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday, the Vietnamese stock market is expected to continue to grow strongly, thanks to positive sentiment and economic recovery. Because, the first trading sessions of the year often record the return of cash flow, with investors often buying "for luck" at the beginning of the year, expecting a positive first week of the year. The market has received a recovery force at the end of the 2024 lunar year, creating positive momentum for the beginning of the new year, and is also an opportunity for investors to take advantage of optimism and increase investment in potential stocks in key industry groups.

Sectors that investors should pay attention to: Banking benefits from loose monetary and credit policies, Public Investment with key infrastructure projects promoted by the Government, Technology with AI will continue to grow strongly.

However, investors still need to pay attention to some macro and geopolitical factors that can affect the market. Specifically, US tariff policies under Trump 2.0 and the US-China trade war can create negative impacts on Vietnam's exports and economy.

However, with political stability and a flexible foreign policy, Vietnam can limit these risks. In addition, public investment packages and fiscal easing policies need to be effectively implemented to avoid increasing public debt.

Investors need to closely monitor macro and international factors to make accurate and reasonable investment decisions in this context.

Vietcap Securities assessed that the VN-Index recorded two consecutive weeks of increases in both price and liquidity, helping to reinforce the positive mid-term signal. In the following sessions, the index will move towards the 1,280 point zone and even the 1,300 point zone. However, along with the price increase, profit-taking pressure is still likely to appear, causing the index to adjust or fluctuate in the short term.

Asean Securities believes that the stock market continues to recover, however, liquidity remains low, reflecting investors' cautious sentiment. The recovery momentum mainly comes from large-cap stocks, supported by positive trends from the international market.

After the holiday, the market is likely to continue its recovery and there may be explosive sessions in the coming time, however, the state of fluctuations is still the main factor. Investors should consider disbursing in parts with large stocks with positive fundamentals and business prospects, and be ready with cash to establish a solid position when market liquidity is running out and valuations are very attractive.

Dividend schedule this week

In the first trading week of the year of the Snake, there were 10 businesses that decided to pay dividends in cash, specifically 8 businesses paid in cash, 1 business paid in shares and 1 business paid by additional issuance.

1 company pays by stock:

North Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (BAB, HNX) , ex-dividend date is February 4, last registration date is February 5, ratio 10,000:693 (ie, owner of 10,000 shares will receive 693 new shares).

1 additional issuer:

Central Transport Logistics Joint Stock Company (VMT, UPCoM) , the ex-rights trading date is February 7, the last registration date is February 10, exercising the right to buy additional shares on February 28, ratio 100:95, price 10,000 VND/share (ie 1 share is 1 right, 100 rights can buy 95 new shares).

Cash dividend payment schedule

*Ex-right date: is the transaction date on which the buyer, upon establishing ownership of shares, will not enjoy related rights such as the right to receive dividends, the right to purchase additional issued shares, but will still enjoy the right to attend the shareholders' meeting.