Local shares end four-day slump

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up 0.3 per cent to close at 605.58 points and the Ha Noi Stock Exchange's HNX Index gained 0.7 per cent to end at 81.07 points. - VNS Photo Doan Tung

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up 0.3 per cent to close at 605.58 points and the Ha Noi Stock Exchange's HNX Index gained 0.7 per cent to end at 81.07 points.

The VN Index lost 1.9 per cent and the HNX Index lost 1.7 per cent in the previous four days.

The US-based credit rating agency Fitch Ratings yesterday said that Vietnamese banks still have a high ratio of non-performing loans since they have only sold a small amount of bad loans to the Vietnam Asset Management Corporation (VAMC).

However, Fitch Ratings pointed out that on the positive side that the growth rate of new non-performing loans in Vietnamese banks had slowed as guaranteed assets had been handled well, the Government allowed foreign investors to raise their ownership in local companies, the real-estate market had shown some signs of recovery and the country had seen stable macroeconomic growth in recent years.

As a result, the banking sector index inched up 0.5 per cent, led by gains in the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).

These bank stocks rose 0.9 per cent, 1.5 per cent, 1.4 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.

In addition, the national stock market was lifted by positive quarterly performances such as Ocean Group JSC (OGC) and Binh Minh Plastic JSC (BMP).

OGC was the most active stock yesterday with nearly 19 million shares traded and surged 6.9 per cent after the company on Wednesday reported a quarterly pre-tax profit of VND1.58 trillion (US$70.5 million), most of which came after Ocean Group sold its entire capital in Blue Star Company.

Meanwhile, BMP was up 2.5 per cent after the company recorded a net profit of VND114.77 billion ($5.1 million), an increase of 44 per cent from the same period of last year.

The national stock market also received support from some other large-cap stocks such as Vinamilk (VNM) and FPT Corporation (FPT), from which the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) plans to sell its ownership. By the end of the day, VNM gained 1.5 per cent and FPT jumped 5 per cent.

The two local bourses traded more than 186 million shares, worth VND3.03 trillion ($134.9 million), an increase of one-third from Wednesday.