Index still treads water
HA NOI — Selling pressure in the latter half of yesterday's session depressed share prices on the HCM City Stock Exchange, with the VN-Index treading water at 498 points.
Value of the day's trades rose 8 per cent from Monday's level, totalling VND1.34 trillion (US$70.5 million) on a volume of nearly 42.8 million.
The VN-Index climbed over 500 points in the first 30 minutes of trading on a rumour of the State Bank's lowering prime interest rate in August. However, profit taking caused shares to tumble in the latter half, with losers outnumbering gainers by 148-65.
The State Bank of Viet Nam announced late yesterday to keep the prime rate at 8 per cent for August.
Among blue-chips, only FPT Corp closed at the ceiling price thanks to a purchase by foreign investors of 500,000 FPT shares out of 944,000 traded.
Foreign investors remain optimistic
Foreign investors are showing optimism in national stock exchanges', helping to stabilise the market, stated local securities company Woori CBV in its latest report. The securities company based its comments on its Investor Confidence Index in the second quarter. The Index measures the buying and selling patterns of domestic and overseas investors who execute securities trades in Viet Nam. Half the Index is weighted towards an examination of price-to-earnings ratios relative to the yields of 10-year Government bonds. The index has a base point of 100. The report stated that overseas investor confidence was higher than 100 points four months ago, hitting a very optimistic 140 points at its height. — VNS |
Sacombank (STB), the most active share on a volume of over 3 million, accounting for 7.4 per cent of the total market volume, slid 0.57 per cent to close at VND17,400 ($0.92).
Despite rallies on global markets, especially in the US thanks to positive corporate earnings in the first half, local investor confidence continued to decline due to below-expected profits resulted from low capital flows into the stock market.
General director of SJC Securities Co Huynh Anh Tuan said, "Current capital investment can not absorb all shares put on sale. The state of the domestic economy and performance of listed companies was rather good, therefore, the market downturn could be attributed to shrinking capital investment."
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index yesterday sank to a six-week low of 154.92. Meanwhile, trading value rose lightly to over VND879 billion ($46.3 million) on a volume of over 31 million shares.
Decliners outnumbered advancers by 197-84. Kim Long Securities (KLS), the most active share with 2.2 million shares changing hands, was the only blue-chip closing high at VND17,700 ($0.93), a gain of 1.14 per cent.
Foreign investors yesterday were net sellers on the HCM City bourse by 1.5 million shares worth VND11 billion ($580,000). By contrast, they were net buyers on the Ha Noi bourse with a 41,000 shares, worth nearly VND1.6 billion ($84,200). — VNS