Share surge drives market forward

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange’s (HoSE) VN-Index gained 6.98 points, or 1.81 per cent, to end at 393.46 points.

As many as 198 stocks climbed on the main bourse, compared with just 40 off and 61 unchanged. Up to 70 hit the ceiling, among them blue-chips like Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and FPT Corp. (FPT).

Speculative stocks Licogi 16 (LCG), Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp. (ITA) and Investment and Trading of Real Estate (ITC) also hit the ceiling.

Vietcombank (VCB), Sacombank (STB), along with Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Kinh Do Corp. (KDC) largely 2-3 per cent.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), driving stocks largely soared. Kim Long Securities (KLS) jumped more than 6 per cent with nearly eight million shares matched. PetroVietnam Construction (PVX), Vinaconex (VCG) and VnDirect Securities (VND) hit the ceiling with millions of units changing hands.

The HNX-Index also gained 1.58 points or 2.4 per cent to 67.41 points, after 237 stocks climbed. Just 38 stocks fell, while 111 were unchanged.

The market rise largely surprised market participants, beating previous analysts’ expectations that the market would remain sluggish due to macroeconomic fears.

Although retaining a skeptical sentiment, investors still aggressively bid for shares at the session’s end. Trading volumes dramatically surged to 50 million shares, more than doubling that of the previous session. The Hanoi bourse’s value hit VND480 billion ($23.4 million).

HoSE’s total volume climbed to 39.3 million shares worth VND805.58 billion ($38.9 million).

Matching volumes, however, increased just modestly, standing at 21.5 million shares worth VND319.58 billion ($15.6 million) on HoSE and 40.4 million shares worth VND395.6 billion ($19.3 million).