National indices remain steady
National indices remain steady
Asian stocks were rattled by the news of the crash of a Malaysian Airlines jet on the Ukraine-Russia border, but Viet Nam's stock market remained unaffected.
Both the national benchmark indices closed higher with improving liquidity.
The VN-Index ended yesterday's session at its highest level of the day, adding 5.89 points or as much as 1 per cent to close at 596.26 points.
The market saw great improvement in liquidity yesterday, with more than 144.3 million shares changing hands, worth VND2.52 trillion (US$119 million), 50 per cent and 78 per cent higher respectively than the previous trading session.
The gains made by the blue chips helped lift the benchmark index. The VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the southern bourse's 30 largest stocks by capitalisation and liquidity, advanced 1.45 per cent to end at 645.52 points.
The FPT Corporation (FPT), in particular, soared 6.6 per cent to reach its ceiling price of VND52,500 ($2.4) per share yesterday after TechInsider on Thursday reported that Apple was acquiring FPT Corporation. However, a FPT leader rejected the information late yesterday.
Previously, Bloomberg News reported that Apple, iPhone's manufacturer, was tapping FPT to roll out retail outlets in major cities as part of a regional push for its products amid competition from Samsung Electronics.
The other big gainers included Vinamilk (VNM), Da Nang Rubber Corporation (DRC) and PetroVietnam Drilling Corporation (PVD) among 14 others.
Five codes in the VN30 package fell marginally yesterday, including PetroVietnam General Services Corporation (PET) and PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution (PGD), while eight codes remained unchanged.
FLC Group (FLC) was the most heavily-traded stock on the southern bourse with a significant 26.6 million shares changing hands, followed by the Hoang Quan Corporation (HQC) and FPT Group (FPT) with 11.4 million shares and 3.98 million shares being traded respectively.
On the Ha Noi Exchange, the HNX-Index added 0.37 per cent to land at 81.14 points, while the HNXFF-Index, comprising stocks with a minimum free float rate of 5 per cent, rose 0.39 per cent to close at 81.42 points.
The HNX30-Index, tracking the top stocks, ended 5.3 per cent higher to finish at 165.68 points.
Nearly 44 million shares changed hands on the capital city's bourse, worth VND557 billion ($26.4 million), slightly higher than the previous trading session.
While foreign investors ended up as net sellers of VND27.17 billion ($1.2 million) shares on the southern bourse, they were net buyers of VND34.72 billion ($1.6 million) shares on the Ha Noi Exchange yesterday.
The foreign investors' activity helped consolidate the local market sentiment yesterday, although the downing of a Malaysian Airlines plane caused international stocks to end lower, according to FPT Securities.
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