Blue chips buoy stock markets

Blue chips buoy stock markets

Shares increased in the afternoon, buoyed by strong gains of large-cap shares. However, trading remained sluggish as investors feared a bull-trap.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index closed yesterday's session up 2.04 per cent at 489.84 points.

Blue chip rises powered the market uptrend with the VN30 – tracking the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity – also up 1.89 per cent to 544.98 points.

Outstanding shares included Masan Group (MSN) which jumped 3.8 per cent to VND95,000 (US$4.52) per share following the news that the investment fund TPG Growth would spend $50 million to buy a 49 per cent stake in Masan Agriculture from Masan Consumer. The payment will be made in cash.

Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) rose 4.3 per cent, property giant VinGroup (VIC) went up 3.3 per cent and dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) rose 3.1 per cent.

Overall trading was sluggish, however, with market value almost unchanged compared with the previous session, totalling over 37.8 million shares worth VND670 billion (nearly $32 million).

Pha Lai Thermal Power (PPC) was the most active code with nearly 1.73 million shares traded at VND24,700 ($1.18), up 3.8 per cent over Monday's close.

According to stock analysts at Viet Nam Investment Securities Co, the increases yesterday were mainly driven by blue chips and overall investor sentiment was still weak on market uncertainty.

"The VN-Index continuously falling below supportive levels in the past two weeks also raised investor precautions," they added. "With the current low liquidity, we believe that the market will fluctuate around 470-480 points."

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also edged up 1.14 per cent to close the morning at 63.20 points.

Market value was low at almost VND182 billion ($8.7 million) on a total volume of nearly 25.5 million shares.

Investment FLC Group (FLC) was again the most active code on the northern bourse with over 3.1 million shares changing hands, rising 1.6 per cent to VND6,500 a share.

Foreign sectors were once again net buyers on both exchanges yesterday after many days of selling, but they picked up just VND2.2 billion ($104,700) worth of shares on both markets.

vietnamnews