Exchanges have dramatic change in fortune

Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange’s (HoSE) VN-Index gained 4.58 points or 1.17 per cent to 396.05 points, after 206 stocks climbed with 103 stocks hitting ceiling.

A mass of major stocks hit the ceiling, among them Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp. (REE), Tan Tao Investment Industry Corporation (ITA) and Bao Viet Holdings.

Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS) jumped 3.46 per cent.

Other blue-chips like PetroVietnam Fertilisers (DPM), Ocean Group (OGC), Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and banking shares added 1-2 per cent.

Liquidity also increased with matching volume of 22.7 million shares, worth VND357 billion ($17.4 million). The volume of blue-chips keep was modest with hundreds of thousand shares traded.

Put-through volume sharply soared to 80 million shares thanks to 75 million Sacombank (STB) shares changing hands.

Some major stocks still ended lower or flat, of which Vincom Corp. (VIC) hit the floor, STB shed 0.65 per cent and Kinh Do Corp. (KDC) was unchanged.

Stocks also largely climbed on the northern bourse. Some 241 stocks were up with 139 hitting the ceiling, compared with just 44 falling and 108 unchanged. The benchmark HNX-Index significantly gained 1.38 points or 2.05 per cent to 68.83 points.

Securities company shares led the gainers with Kim Long Securities (KLS), VnDirect Securities (VND), Bao Viet Securities (BVS) hitting ceiling or nearly hitting ceiling. Those driving stocks saw 1-3 million shares changing hands in today’s session.

Hoa Binh Securities (HBS) and Saigon-Hanoi Securities (SHS) jumped. PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) and PetroVietnam Northern Gas (PVG) both hit the ceiling, while PetroVietnam Southern Gas JSC (PGS) up 5.95 per cent.

Other major stocks also largely gained with 500,000 to one million shares traded.

Total volume hit 29.6 million shares worth VND279.44 billion ($13.6 million), but investors still strongly focused on major stocks.