Market starts in upbeat fashion

A rumour that the central bank might reduce the VND deposit’s ceiling rate to 12 per cent significantly encouraged stock investors.

“This possible move might be a big surprise, as ceiling rate cut intervals might be too short and April’s CPI is not available,” said Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI).

Both the two benchmarks VN-Index and HNX-Index turned to positive territory throughout the session. At the close, the VN-Index of Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) gained 3.29 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 450.73 points.

The HNX-Index of Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) gained 1.59 points or 2.13 per cent to end at 76.28 points.

Real estate stocks led the gainers amidst recovering sentiment of investors. Major stocks Licogi 16 (LCG), Tu Liem Urban Development (NTL), Quoc Cuong Gia Lai (QCG), Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS) massively hit the ceiling.

Other low-price real estate stocks like PetroVietnam-Idico Long Son Industrial Park Investment (PXL), Ninh Van Bay Real Estate (NVT) also largely jumped with large trading volumes.

Financial stocks Ho Chi Minh City Securities (HCM) hit the ceiling and Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) strongly rose. But, banking stocks saw just modest gains of 1-2 per cent. Vietcombank (VCB) ended flat.

Some 183 stocks ended higher on the southern bourse, compared with 69 off and 58 unchanged.

Major speculative stocks were in strong demand. Securities companies largely hit the ceiling, among them VNDirect Securities (VND), Saigon-Hanoi Securities (SHS), Wall Street Securities (WSS).

Highly liquid stocks Habubank (HBB), PetroVietnam Construction (PVX), Sacomreal (SCR), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) massively jumped leading up the market.

At the close, up to 215 stocks ended higher on the northern bourse, overwhelming 53 off. Some 215 stocks were unchanged.

Liquidity, however, liquidity dropped on cautious sentiment of investors. The total volume fell to 66.3 million shares worth VND909.8 billion ($43.9 million) on the HoSE. The figure reached 70.2 million shares worth VND707.2 billion ($34.2 million) on the HNX.

“We believe that State Bank of Vietnam might have to push all the banks to strictly conform, rather than hurry to lower, the 13 per cent ceiling,” said SSI, adding that “the most-watched data, the April CPI might be available this week and we would wait to see how much it may swing from March’s level.”