Week sees Index score net gain

(20-04-2009)

Investors watch the trading board at ACB Securities. The VN-Index saw dramatic ups and downs during the past week, but it managed an overall gain of 9.09 per cent over the five trading sessions. — VNS Photo Truong Vi

HA NOI/HCM CITY — The VN-Index saw dramatic ups-and-downs during the past week but managed an overall gain of 9.09 per cent over the five trading sessions, closing on Friday at 334.14 despite massive investor profit-taking on Wednesday and Friday.

Average daily trading value was VND1.23 trillion (US$69.4 million), representing a surge of 35 per cent from the previous week and an average of 49.8 million shares traded per day.

Sacombank (STB) alone accounted for a volume of 45.31 million shares on the week, over 18.2 per cent of market value.

Automotive shares saw the highest increase in value, at 12.75 per cent, according to FPT Securities Co data, followed by banking and financial shares, at 11.88 per cent.

Tourism shares suffered the steepest drop in value, off 6 per cent on the week.

Hoang Thach Lan, an analyst with SME Securities Co, said that economic data and earnings performance have not been strong enough to convince investors to return to long-term investment.

Traders were fishing through short-term investments, Lan said.

Foreign investors last week doubled their buying volume over the previous week, picking up 16.83 million shares.

Vincom Securities Co said that rising purchase from overseas clients proved an equity accumulation as the global economic crisis began showing its first signs of easing.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Government decided to increase the foreign-ownership cap in unlisted shares traded on the OTC market from 30 per cent to 49 per cent, a move analysts expected would support the equitisation of State-owned enterprises and promote the development this year of the unlisted public companies market (UPCoM).

FPT Securities Co, in its weekly stock market report, predicted the VN-Index would fluctuate in the coming week because it has already experienced greater growth than other markets worldwide in the past week.

"Our market needs a fluctuation to achieve balance," the report said.

Going into detail, a EuroCapital Securities analyst forecast the VN-Index would move between 300 to 320 this week.

"Investors should not barter shares away but trade them based on first-quarter earnings performance," said EuroCapital’s Ngo Van Minh.

In Ha Noi last week, daily trading value rose 23 per cent from the previous week to 670.6 billion ($37.6 million), with an average of 24.8 million shares changing hands every session.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) was the most-heavily traded stock with nearly 28 million shares, accounting for over 23 per cent of volume on the northern bourse last week.

Vincom Securities, in its weekly stock market report, recommended investors buy banking shares for long-term investment. — VNS