The volume of trades on the HCM Stock Exchange also continued to
revive, increasing by nearly 18 percent from last Wednesday's session to
55.1 million shares, with a value of 1.5 trillion VND (76.9 million
USD).
Profit-taking increased at
mid-session, causing the Index to recede from a high point of 470
during the session, said Dinh Thi My Hanh, a market analyst with a
Hanoi-based securities firm.
"However, purchasing power was maintained throughout the day," Hanh said.
Banking stocks performed well despite unfavourable news late last
week, including Fitch's downgrading of Vietcombank and Asia Commercial
Bank and the decline in Sacombank's net profit following an audit of its
financial statements.
Sacombank (STB)
shares still rose 1.85 percent on the day, while Eximbank (EIB) gained
an even more impressive 4.17 percent. Vietcombank (VCB), meanwhile,
declined by 1.04 percent.
Foreign investors
were net buyers of 2.2 million shares on the HCM City market,
worth a net of 70.6 billion VND (3.6 million USD).
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 3.9 percent over
last Wednesday's close to end the session at 136.8 points. Volume on the
northern bourse receded by 2.8 percent, however, to just 36.3 million
shares, worth an anaemic 880.5 billion VND (45.1 million USD).
"The drop in volume is not worrying since sellers continue to hold onto stocks waiting for higher prices," Hanh said.
Foreign investors were net sellers on the Hanoi exchange by a
volume of only 20,000 shares, worth a net of just 1.3 billion VND.
Pham Thanh Thai Linh, head of analysis for Bao Viet Securities Co,
said that capital inflow this month would be carefully directed towards
fundamental investments and not as random as in the previous period,
thanks to the more settled state of the economy.
A survey by Bao Viet Securities also found that about 60 listed firms
were intending to spend about 7 trillion VND (359 million USD) on share
buybacks in the near future, Linh said.
Linh
pointed to three sectors for investment this month with the highest
potential – real estate, consumer goods and industrial services./.
