Energy firms drive VN market
Energy firms drive VN market
Strong gains of oil futures on Monday helped boost the Vietnamese stock market after a three-day decline. 
The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange was up 1.21 per cent to end at 837.01 points.
The benchmark index had fallen a total of nearly 1.0 per cent in the previous three days.
The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange dropped 0.45 per cent to close at 108.54 points.
The northern market index has lost a total of nearly 3.0 per cent in the last three days.
More than 310 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND4.93 trillion (US$211.3 million).
The market was lifted by a positive performance among energy firms on the rapid growth of crude futures.
US crude WTI and Brent futures soared 8.87 per cent and 6.22 per cent, respectively, to trade at $32.04 and $34.52 a barrel.
Viet Nam’s energy and mining sector index gained nearly 2.0 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.
The sector was propelled by PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD), and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS), which rose between 1.5 per cent and 4.3 per cent.
Retailers, building material producers, banks and brokerage firms were the other strong performers on Monday.
Steel producer Hoa Phat (HPG) soared 6.8 per cent after the company on Friday announced its revenue may rise 31-39 per cent on-year in 2020 to VND85-90 trillion.
Post-tax profit is expected to increase by 18-32 per cent on-year to VND9-10 trillion. The dividend payout rate is set at 25 per cent for 2020, including a 20 per cent cash dividend and 5 per cent share dividend.
Among banking-financial and retail stocks that advanced, VPBank (VPB) jumped 5.2 per cent, Vietcombank (VCB) gained 3.3 per cent, and VietCapital Securities (VCI) and Mobile World Investment (MWG) leaped by 1.4 per cent.
Large-cap stocks were still the main driving factor, Thanh Cong Securities (TCSC) said in its daily report.
Trading liquidity remained high, proving that market sentiment was stable and cash supply abundant, the company said.
The short-term peak of the market was still forecast at 850-860 points as investors were willing to buy in whenever stocks were sold at low prices, TCSC said.
