Markets end year on uptick

HA NOI — The final session of 2010 finished on a high note on both of the nation's stock exchanges on Friday.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index closed out the year at 484.66 points, an increase of 0.68 per cent over Thursday.

However, it represented a decline of 2 per cent from the close a year earlier.

However, trades were explosive in the final 15 minutes of the session, with volume in that period alone reaching 13.6 million shares. Overall volume for the day was 60 million shares, worth a combined VND1.6 trillion (US$76.2 million).

Blue chips rose sharply, suggesting that solid amounts of capital were flowing into the market in the year's final session, said Ha Noi-based broker Do Thanh Toan. He noted that Vietcombank (VCB) alone saw 93.2 per cent of buy orders matched, and property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) was a notch behind with 66 per cent of orders matched.

"Foreign investors are involved insignificantly with these stocks, which suggests more active participation by domestic investors in the new year," Toan said.

But Tran Van Quy, a market analyst with a Ha Noi-based securities company, said the burst of activity still implied uncertainties. "The active trading in the final minutes was appreciated but it was barely enough to brighten the Index," Quy said.

Market movement still depended on foreign investors and their buys in blue chips. "This keeps the VN-Index safe at around 470-485 points, but there needs to be more to confirm an uptrend," he added.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index closed up 1.42 per cent to 114.24 on Friday, but it represented a loss of about a third of the market's value since the end of 2009.

The volume of trades in the final session of 2010 was 34.6 million shares, worth VND747.7 billion ($35.6 million).

Analysts of Woori Bien Viet Securities predicted foreign investment in the nation's markets would continue to increase in the new year, predicting a rally in the opening sessions of 2011.

The net buys of foreign investors in 2010 reached a total of VND16.4 trillion (US$781 million), second only to the 2007 peak of VND23 trillion. They focused on the HCM City market rather than Ha Noi, where foreign investors accounted for only 5.5 per cent of net market value.

Blue chips in the financial and property sectors achieved the most favour from foreign investors, with HAG, Kinh Bac City Development (KBC), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and financial conglomate Ocean Group (OGC) frequently being the most-active stocks among foreign investors.

BIDV Securities Co analyst Tong Minh Tuan, at a conference on Thursday, noted that the Vietnamese markets still had a low price-to-earnings ratio (P/E), compared to neighbouring markets in the Philippines, Malaysia or Indonesia. Stock markets are dark today, but trading resumes tomorrow.
Source: vnagency.com.vn