HCMC – The local market bounced back slightly on Thursday given strong demand for large caps at the end of the session. The VN-Index rose 1.58 points, or 0.35%, against the previous day to close at 454.52.
The market opened slightly in the red and traded for much of the day in a very narrow three-point range around Wednesday’s close before jumping 1.5 points at the close.
Liquidity also increased strongly as 40.6 million shares worth VND1.2 trillion were traded, surging by 22.4% and 34.8% against the session earlier respectively. On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, bids rose 11.7% to 63.5 million shares while offers dropped 12.4% from the previous day to nearly 62.8 million shares.
The number of losers was more than twice that of advancers at 145 to 68, of which six issues went to the ceiling prices and nine others plunged to the floor prices.
Ocean Group Co. (OGC) once again led the market in terms of liquidity, ending the day down 1.9% to VND31,600 per share with 1.8 million shares traded, followed by Thuan Thao Corp. (GTT), gaining 4.5% from the previous session to VND11,500 on the volume of 855,000 shares.
Vimedimex Medi-Pharma Co. (VMD) began trading 8.1 million shares on the bourse on Thursday but it dropped 20% against the preference price to VND32,000 per share on the volume of around 164,000 shares.
Foreigners turned strong net buyers, acquiring 5.4 million shares worth VND190 billion and offloading 1.8 million shares worth VND54 billion. They accounted for 18.4% and 5.2% of the market’s buying and selling value respectively.
The Hanoi market fell for the third consecutive session on Thursday and turnover dipped to VND630 billion. The HNX-Index dropped 0.12 point, or 0.09%, from the previous session and ended the day at 127.29.
Only 74 stocks rose while 221 stocks lost ground, of which six stocks went to the ceiling prices while 10 stocks dropped to the floor prices. Foreigners were slight net buyers and accounted for 0.66% of the buying value and 0.6% of the selling value.
Fiachra Mac Cana, managing director of HCMC Securities Corp., said the markets closed mixed with the HNX-Index continuing to decline while the southern bourse moved higher. Trading volumes were unchanged overall as a dip in the northern bourse was offset by higher volumes in the southern market.
Sentiment, however, remained fragile as a weakening currency in the unofficial market coupled with higher gold prices dogged investors, he commented.
Vietnam International Securities Co. (VIS) said the 450-point level seemed to be especially firm for the VN-Index in the coming time when supply would far outpace demand on the market.
“The index traded narrowly around the level in recent sessions despite supporting news from the macro economy, which showed that investors were still very cautious. The market may move flat around the 455-point level within the next few days,” VIS predicted.
