Stocks rebound from two days of losses

HA NOI — Shares rebounded in the latter half of yesterday's sessions on both the HCM City and Ha Noi stock exchanges, with rallying indices helping reverse two days of market corrections.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index jumped 1.68 per cent to close at 460.45 points. However, the volume of trades decreased by 16.6 per cent from Wednesday's session to 59.8 million shares, worth a combined VND1.35 trillion (US$64.3 million). Advancers outnumbered decliners by 189-46, while 42 codes hit their ceiling prices.

Only nine codes slumped to the floor compared to about two-thirds of stocks on Wednesday.

Among blue chips, Sacombank (STB) rose by 4.2 per cent, Phu My Fertilisers (DPM) by 3.8 per cent, Hoa Phat Group (HPG) by 3.1 per cent, and software giant FPT by 1.5 per cent.

PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) and Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) soared to their ceiling prices.

Property developer Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Co (QCG) became the most active on the southern bourse, with almost 5.6 million shares traded. QCG rose 0.3 per cent to close at VND29,000 ($1.38).

After two consecutive days of losses, many shares had dropped to attractive price levels again, prompting bottom-seeking investors to increase buying, particularly in blue chips, said analysts with Au Viet Securities Co.

"This is a positive sign showing that cash flow is still flowing into the stock market," they wrote in their daily report.

The State Bank of Viet Nam set up an investigative team on Wednesday to inspect the unusually high interest rates being charged by commercial banks, seen as one of leading factors in investor pessimism after two declining sessions, said independent analyst To Tran Hoa.

"The last two days of declines were only a necessary technical adjustment after many rising sessions," Hoa said, predicting that a new uptrend would continue.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index gained 1.48 per cent to close at 112.13 points. Volume decreased slightly to 62.2 million shares, totalling over VND1.16 trillion ($55.2 million). Advancers and decliners were split by 188-107, while Kim Long Securities (KLS) was again the most heavily-traded stock nationwide on a volume of 6.71 million share.

KLS closed up 1.3 per cent yesterday to VND15,900 ($0.75) per share. Foreign investors continued to be net buyers on both national stock exchange, picking up a combined 2.6 million stocks worth just VND37 billion ($1.8 million).

The State Securities Commission recently estimated that net foreign capital inflows to the stock market had reached $920 million by the end of November. Of that figure, over $600 million was poured into listed stocks, while the remaining was in the form of over-the-counter share purchases, fund certificates and bonds.

The commission has completed a draft plan aimed at attracting foreign investment by increasing the percentage of foreign ownership in domestic companies and completing a legal framwork to support derivative products and overseas securities issues.

Source: vnagency.com.vn