Regional oil fears drive down market

After global oil was pushed to two-and-a-half-year highs, domestic fuel prices were also given permission to increase. The A92 gasoline price increased by 17.6 per cent from VND16,000 to VND19,300 ($0.93) per litre at 10am local time, while diesel oil increased by VND3,550 to VND18,300 ($0.88) per litre.

The news erased the slight recovery on stock market yesterday, dragging the VN-Index of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) to its lowest points within 48 sessions, 461.29 points, down 9.38 points or 1.99 per cent.

The HNX-Index of the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) fell 1.31 points, or 1.35 per cent, to 95.64 points.

Up to 169 stocks out of 258 gave up gains on the HoSE, while 232 out of 376 fell on the HNX.

On the southern bourse, supportive stocks Bao Viet Holding (BVH), Masan Group (MSN), PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) and PetroVietnam Drilling (PVD) hit the floor.

Otherwise, several blue-chips suffered just a modest decline like Sacombank (STB), Vinamilk (VNM) and Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI).Vietinbank (CTG) even added 0.41 per cent to VND24,400.

Investors boosted buying at low prices as the market dropped, seeing liquidity rise 17 per cent to 43.12 million shares, worth VND974.4 billion ($47.07 million). Foreigners also suddenly increased buying to more than five million, focusing on major stocks like ITA, REE, SSI and CTG.

Securities companies, however, all expected a continuing trend of the market and recommended clients kept cautious on their decisions.

On the southern bourse, many majors stock significantly fell, among them real estate stocks Sacomreal (SCR) and Ocean Holding (OCH), along with PetroVietnam Insurance (PVI) and Bao Viet Securities (BVS).

Habubank (HBB) ended flat and Asia Commercial Bank saw just a slight fall of 0.9 per cent.

Volume was up 5.84 per cent to 34.7 million shares, with value reached VND548.6 billion ($26.5 million). Notably, foreigners boosted buying like they did on the HoSE also, with buying volume reached 2.18 million units, while selling stood at just 247,000.