HÀ NỘI – Shares closed Monday’s trading on a positive note following last week’s gains thanks to expansion of large-cap stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rallied 0.64 per cent to close at 849.09 points. The southern market index increased 0.4 per cent last week.

Blue chips remained the major driving force with 22 of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity advancing and only five declining.

Dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), the biggest stock by market value, picked up 1.8 per cent. Heavyweight stocks such as Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG) and PV Gas (GAS) expanded between 1.4-2.5 per cent each.

Overall market conditions were also positive with gaining stocks outnumbering losing ones by 197-77 while 71 others closed flat.

On the negative side, slump of two big stocks – FLC Faros Construction (ROS) and Petrolimex – hurt the market. ROS plummeted 6.5 per cent while PLX fell 4.2 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged up 0.7 per cent to end at 105.09 points. Lacking the influence of large-cap stocks, the northern market index decreased 1.9 per cent last week.

Liquidity soared yesterday with more than 206 million shares worth a combined VNĐ6.8 trillion (roughly US$300 million) traded in the two markets, up 74.4 per cent in value compared to last week’s daily average trading value.

The growth in trading value yesterday mainly came from put-through (negotiated) transactions which accounted for more than half of total trading value of VNĐ6.24 trillion on the HCM Stock Exchange.

About 16.63 million shares worth more than VNĐ2.35 trillion of pharmaceutical company Traphaco (TRA) changed hands yesterday through put-throughs. Of which, Mekong Capital successfully divested its entire holding in Traphaco with one sell order of 10.36 million TRA shares worth VNĐ1.47 trillion.

According to Trần Đức Anh, a stock analyst at Bảo Việt Securities Co, with  positive  movement  of  large-cap  stocks  and  positive  cash  inflows yesterday,  the index is likely to see short-term growth.

“However, the signal  is  not  strong  enough  to  confirm  a  medium-term  sustainable  uptrend. Profit-taking pressure may return to the high price range soon,” Anh wrote in a note.

Vincom Retail debuts

Vincom Retail (VRE), the shopping mall operator of the real estate giant VinGroup, started trading 1.9 million shares, equivalent to total charter capital of VNĐ19 trillion ($837 million), on the HCM Stock Exchange yesterday.

VRE shares closed the first trading session at VNĐ40,550 ($1.79) per share, 20 per cent higher than its debut price of VND33,800.

At that price, the company’s market capitalisation hit VNĐ77 trillion, equal to $3.4 billion, making it among the top 10 largest companies by market capitalisation in Việt Nam.

Vincom Retail operates 41 commercial centres with popular brands such as Vincom Center, Vincom Mega Mall and Vincom Plaza. In the first half of this year, the company reported total revenues of VNĐ2.73 trillion, down 26 per cent year-on-year, and net profit of VNĐ1.1 trillion, down 48.5 per cent year-on-year.

It expects to achieve gross turnover of VNĐ4.6 trillion and after-tax profits of more than VNĐ2.1 trillion by 2018. – VNS