Post holiday lift for southern bourse

May 04, 2011 | 15:00

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Foreigners boosted the Ho Chi Minh bourse by more than six points on the first session after a four-day holiday.

Buying volumes of foreign investors reached 3.7 million shares on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

The buying trend focused on several blue-chips like Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp. (ITA), Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG), PetroVietnam Fertilisers (DPM), Vietinbank (CTG) and Bao Viet Holding (BVH).

A mass of other large-cap and medium-cap stocks were strongly bid for as well, among them Dong Phu Rubber JSC(DPR), Vietnam Fumigation JSC (VFG) and Thien Long Group Corp. (TLG) were all bought by foreigners.

The benchmark VN-Index gained up to 6.5 points (1.35 per cent) to close at 486.58 points.

Driving stocks Bao Viet Holding (BVH) added VND1,500, Masan Group (MSN) hit the ceiling and Vinamilk (VNM) up VND3,000. Up to 116 stocks advanced on the southern bourse, compared with 98 falling and 75 unchanged.

Meanwhile, local investors stepped away from the market. Liquidity was low at 21.2 million shares worth VND584 billion ($28.2 million), of which match-volumes made up just 16.2 million.

SSI outperformed the market with just 1.2 million shares traded, followed by some other blue-chips with just 100,000 to 500,000 units changing hands.

That low liquidity facilitated speculators manipulating the market. Some small-cap stocks saw their prices jump strongly or fell thanks to just some 100 bid orders each.

Lacking foreigners’ support, the HNX-Index lost 0.39 points or 0.47 per cent to 83.19 points. Liquidity tumbled more than 33 per cent to 19.68 million shares, worth VND260.72 billion ($12.6 million).

Some 162 stocks eased back on the northern bourse, compared with 97 advanced and 123 ended flat or had no transactions.

By Hai Linh

vir.com.vn

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