Blue chips buoy stock markets

Blue chips buoy stock markets

The recovery of blue chips Wednesday afternoon helped sustain shares on both exchanges, despite fluctuations in the morning as investors showed caution following forecasts of corrections.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM City Stock Exchange finished 0.77 per cent up at 514.64 points while the VN30, tracking the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity, rose 0.41 per cent to close at 577.28 points.

"Traders bought blue-chips across the board as declines for three consecutive days made valuations more attractive. With the strong support of cash flow, the market is unlikely to decline steeply," analysts of FPT Securities Co wrote in a report yesterday.

The biggest gainers included insurer Bao Viet Holdings with a rise of 3 per cent, followed by PV Gas (GAS) with an increase of 2.5 per cent, Southern Rubber Industry (CSM) with a gain of 2.3 per cent and dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) and Refrigeration Electrical Engineering (REE), which each rose 1.5 per cent.

Trading volume and value declined from the previous session, however, totalling 56.3 million shares worth VND923 billion (US$44 million), down 30 per cent in volume and 35 per cent in value.

PetroVietnam Transportation Corporation (PVT) and Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) were the most active stocks on the southern bourse.

Each saw over 3 million shares traded. PVT jumped 5.6 per cent to finish at VND5,700 a share while ITA rose 1.4 per cent to VND7,500 a share.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was also up 1.18 per cent to close at 64.54 points. The value of trades was down 40 per cent from the previous day to barely VND276 billion ($13.1 million).

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) reclaimed the position of the most active stock in the afternoon with 6.22 million shares exchanged, increasing 1.4 per cent to VND7,300 a share.

Analysts predicted that after the impact of "old" support information such as the formal establishment of the national asset management corporation and a stimulus package for the real estate sector started to cool down, the likelihood of increasing the percentage of foreign ownership in domestic companies under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) commitment would motivate a new uptrend

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