Shares rock on despite pressures

Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange’s (HoSE) VN-Index dropped 5.08 points or 1.08 per cent to end at 467.08 points. Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) fell to 77.5 points, down 1.83 points or 2.31 per cent.

Petrolimex, PV Oil, Saigon Petro and Dong Thap Petroleum products have sent proposals for higher retail prices for petroleum products, sparking inflation fears.

“As we noted earlier, a low reported consumer price index paved the way for the government to do a lot of things, including lowering interest rate and re-starting the energy price hike, especially electricity prices,” Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) said to clients.

“We cannot rule out the possibility of a petroleum products price hike at the moment. But we believe that it might not a good move, in terms of timing,” the major brokerage firm added.

Locking in profits increased in high-liquid stocks, particularly mid-cap and small-cap stocks.

Among them, real estate stocks largely hit the floor with big offering volumes, among them Transport Engineering Construction & Business Investment JSC 584 (NTB), PetroVietnam-Idico Long Son Industrial Park Investment (PXL), Tu Liem Urban Development (NTL), Hoang Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate Corp. (HQC), Vietnam Electricity Construction (VNE), Becamex Infrastructure Development (IJC).

Also, large-cap real estate stocks like Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp. (ITA), Licogi 16 (LCG), Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) hit the floor.

Several PetroVietnam-family stocks also stopped their rally, turning head to fall down. PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) sunk 5.04 per cent, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp. (PVS) 4.84 per cent, Petro Vietnam Power Land (PVL 5.84 per cent), while PetroVietnam-Nghe An Construction (PVA) hit the floor. PetroVietnam Northern Gas (PVG) and Petro Vietnam Power Services (PPS) also sharply lost.

Investors’ bidding for shares, however, remained high for highly speculative stocks like Nari Hamico Minerals (KSS) and Vietnam Mechanisation Electrification and Construction (MCG). KSS outperformed the market with 6.3 million shares matched, rising 4.08 per cent, while MCG jumped 3.9 per cent with 4.3 million shares changing hands.
Despite the falls, liquidity reached 98 million shares worth VND1.63 trillion ($78.7 million) on HoSE. Among them, Sacombank (STB) had more than 20 million shares changed hands via the put-through method today.

But, liquidity strongly reduced on the HNX to 56.5 million shares worth VND581 billion ($28.1 million).