Shares gain on VN-US business deals

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 0.54 per cent to close Thursday at 741.80 points, bouncing back from a two-day decline of 1.1 per cent.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 0.54 per cent to close at 741.80 points, bouncing back from a two-day decline of 1.1 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange finished up 0.08 per cent at 93.99 points, narrowing gain made during Thursday’s session. The northern market index has increased by a total 0.8 per cent in the last two days.

Nearly 203.7 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth VND4.13 trillion (US$183.7 million).

Large-cap stocks performed well with 70 per cent of the 30 largest listed companies by market capitalisation advancing.

The stock market was lifted by investor confidence following the signing of deals between Vietnamese and US businesses on early Thursday during the PM’s visit to the US.

Shares of private low-cost carrier Vietjet (VJC) gained 1.7 per cent after the firm reached $4.7 billion worth of agreements with American partners on purchasing more jet engines, and getting technical support and other services. The total value of deals between Vietnamese and US businesses was about $10 billion.

Later, PM Phuc met with the US President Donald Trump and the two leaders pledged to boost trade, economic and investment ties between the two nations.

Bank stocks also ended in the positive territory, thanks to the growth of Vietcombank, Sacombank and MBBank’s shares.

Shares of Sacombank (STB) rose 1.2 per cent on expectations that the bank would be able to clear 70 per cent of its bad debt in the next three years and all non-performing loans within five years, vietstock.vn reported.

The State Bank of Viet Nam recently gave Sacombank 10 years to clear its bad debts. The bank’s share price has increased by 25 per cent within the last month.

On the opposite side, steel producers suffered from profit-taking after they made big gains on Wednesday on the new protectionist tariff imposed on imported coloured steel products.

In addition, energy stocks were hit by a sharp drop in oil prices in the Asia trading. Shares of energy companies closed down between 0.6 per cent and 2 per cent.

According to BIDV Securities, investors have become cautious with the market conditions despite the recovery of market trading liquidity from Wednesday’s level.

The market may face more risks in the coming days as the growth of large-cap stocks is not strong enough to boost market sentiment while trading liquidity shows no sign of improvement, BSC said.