A tale of two fortunes

Scores of blue-chips hit the ceiling raising Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) up, of which Bao Viet Holding (BVH), Masan Group (MSN) and PetroVietnam Fertilisers (DPM) were buoyed by foreigners, while local investors strongly bought into Vincom Corp. (VIC).

Investors strongly bought into finance and real estate shares. Itaco (ITA) and Licogi 16 (LCG), along with Sudico (SJS) significantly rose, while Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB), Vietcombank (VCB) and Sai Gon Securities Inc. (SSI) gained.

PetroVietnam Drill (PVD) was also among the gainers supporting the market.

At the close, the VN-Index advanced 8.99 points, or 1.96 per cent, to 468.22 points.

Gains on the southern bourse were thanks to “investors picking up blue-chips on speculation that values were attractively low,” said FPT Securities.

However, the cheap supply reduced as sellers lowered dumping out cheap shares. The buyers remained hesitant to ask at high prices, strongly pushing liquidity down to VND547.43 billion ($26.44 million).

Some 78 stocks were unchanged and 73 declined, compared with 134 stocks increasing on the southern bourse.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), investors strongly bailed out dragging the HNX-Index to 90.65 points, down 0.28 points or 0.31 per cent.

Otherwise, large demand for cheap shares of the buyers sharply boosted liquidity up more than 50 per cent to 37.22 million units, worth VND465.03 billion ($22.46 million).

Kim Long Securities (KLS) hit a record high liquidity with more than 9.5 million shares changing hands, accounting for 25.6 per cent total trading volume on the HNX. The stock  sharply fell for the fourth straight sessions after the brokerage firm announced exiting the securities sector. At the close, it dropped 5.6 per cent to close at VND10,100.

PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) followed KLS with some one million shares traded each. Both the two shares were strongly sold by foreigners.

Decliners and advancers ran evenly with 123 stocks falling, 145 gaining and 53 ending flat.

Foreigners net sold for the fourth straight session on the northern bourse with net value of VND4.28 billion ($206,700) today. Bao Viet Securities (BVS) and Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) topped the shares sold most.