Shares rise up despite falling macroeconomic metrics

A Vietcombank (VCB) office in the city of Can Tho. VCB climbed 1.42 per cent on Friday. - VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Liem

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged up 0.27 per cent to close the session at 696.06 points.

The southern market index increased 0.57 per cent to close Thursday at 694.21 points.

A total of 328 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND4.4 trillion (US$187.4 million).

Eighteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket dropped to weigh on the market. Twelve of them moved up.

According to the General Statistics Office, Viet Nam's GDP growth in the first quarter of 2020 is estimated to increase by only 3.82 per cent year-on-year, the lowest in the past 10 years. Three economic sectors experienced a sharp decline in growth, including agriculture - forestry - fishery, construction and service.

Bao Viet Securities Co said in its daily report that Q1 GDP growth was much lower than the preliminary forecasts in early February.

“However, this is not a surprise for investors amid the COVID-19 pandemic with complicated developments recently. We believe that with Government’s drastic social distancing measures since late March 2020, GDP growth will continue to be strongly affected in the second quarter, especially in service,” the company said.

On the global market, investors’ sentiment was lifted by hopes of further stimulus measures.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,351.62 points, or 6.38 per cent, to 22,552.17, the S&P 500 gained 154.51 points, or 6.24 per cent, to 2,630.07 and the Nasdaq Composite added 413.24 points, or 5.6 per cent, to 7,797.54.

The US is expected to pass a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that will provide their people with money to curb the damage caused by the pandemic.

On the Vietnamese market, investors’ sentiment remains stable and bottom-fishing demand appeared in many large-cap stocks. Blue-chips like Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE), Sabeco (SAB), Vinhomes (VHM) and Vinamilk (VNM) all gained and helped indices go up.

On the down side, Mobile World Group (MWG), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), HDBank (HDB), Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID) were among the decliners.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined 0.47 per cent to close Friday at 97.35 points.

The northern market had risen 3.24 per cent to close Thursday at 100.09 points.

More than 49 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND445 billion.

VN-Index is forecast to experience alternative ups and downs between 653-720 points next week, according to Bao Viet Securities Co.

“The market could possibly fluctuate wildly early next week and drop to 653-673 points,” the company said.

“Profits of listed companies in Q1 2020 may also be below expectation under the influence of COVID-19 pandemic,” it said.