Steady gains on VN-Index

At the close, VN-Index of Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) finished 5.94 points higher, up 1.21 per cent to 495.16 points. HNX-Index of Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) rose more modestly 0.97 points or 0.9 per cent to 109.02 points.

Regardless, despite the stock market’s recovery for the third straight session, analysts are still cautious about the market’s movement in the near future, even though the country had set some high economic targets set at the Party Congress XI in the coming days.

Another reason for this cautious outlook is that liquidity has remained quite modest. Trading value increased a little on HoSE at VND1.098 trillion ($55 million) and volume was set 43.8 million shares today.

On the other hand, the market’s rise was contributed much by foreign investors as with many previous sessions, according to Bao Viet Securities.

Liquidity, meanwhile was better on the northern bourse with 34.43 million shares worth VND618.08 billion ($30.9 million) changing hands, up some 33 per cent against previous sessions.

Domestic investors’ trading “remained lackluster” with a sentiment of the country “easing off ahead of the Tet holiday” and a “wait-and-see” attitude regarding companies’ business results, stated the firm in a note to clients.

Even then, the overwhelming number of advancers brought brighter market expectation of a large-scale recovery: 147 stocks went up with 23 hitting the ceiling while 63 went down and 74 remained unchanged on the HoSE with 230 stocks rising compared to 67 falling on HNX.

The rise trend continued, covering a lot of penny stocks, of which some codes like RAL, L10 and IJC even hit the ceiling.

The two blue-chips Bao Viet Holding (BVH) and Masan Group (MSN) led the gainers driving up the VN-Index again, contributing 4.29 points out of 7.43 rising points gained today.

The BVH shares traded by foreign investors still accounted for the large portion of its volume – as high as 80 per cent for this session. Kinh Bac City (KBC) and FPT Corp. (FPT), which foreign investors are fond of, drove up the VN-Index.

Meanwhile, Vinpearl JSC (VPL) and Vincom Corp. both endured a downward session. Some major stocks like Vinamilk (VNM), Vietcombank (VCB), PetroVietnam Fertilisers (DPM) and Vietinbank (CTG) were also among the decliners.

On the Hanoi exchange, Kim Long Securities (KLS) and Habubank (HBB) outperformed the bourse in terms of liquidity with 4.82 million and 4.34 million shares traded respectively.

Foreign investors shed their purchases on HoSE to 4.71 million shares today, focusing on the major stocks including Sacombank (STB), Itaco Corp. (ITA) and Kinh Bac City (KBC). Their trade on the northern bourse was very low at some 6,000 units.