Shares were volatile on the two local exchanges yesterday with lower trading liquidity as investors worried over the potential economic policies from US president-elect Donald Trump.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.2 per cent to close at 679.2 points, extending a two-day increase of 1.3 per cent.

On the opposite side, the HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was choppy and fell 0.2 per cent to 81.19 points.

Investors were hesitant to trade yesterday as they worried about uncertain economic policies issued by the new US president that could impact the Vietnamese economy, BIDV Securities said in a note.

Real estate and construction companies were the strongest gainers yesterday, driven by Vingroup JSC (VIC), FLC Group (FLC) and Faros Construction Corp (ROS).

FLC jumped 3.9 per cent after the group yesterday announced its pre-tax profit for the past ten months was VND1.2 trillion (US$53.3 million), reaching the company’s projected profit for this year.

ROS surged 7 per cent to soar 14.4 per cent in the last two sessions. VIC gained 2.8 per cent to increase 3.5 per cent during the same period.

Owning more than 724 million shares of Vingroup, the group’s chairman Pham Nhat Vuong remained the richest on Viet Nam’s stock market with total asset value of nearly VND31.86 trillion.

The gains in these three stocks created a race between Vingroup’s chairman, Pham Nhat Vuong, and Trinh Van Quyet, who owns both FLC Group and Faros Construction Corp.

At the end of the day, Vuong remained the richest on Viet Nam’s stock market with total asset value reached nearly VND31.86 trillion, while Quyet was still second richest with total asset value of VND31.15 trillion.

Significant gains were also seen in the stocks of natural rubber companies and coal mining businesses as both rubber and coal prices set one-year highs during the sessions, BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) said in a note.

Those stocks included Phuoc Hoa Rubber JSC (PHR), Dong Phu Rubber JSC (DPR), Vinacomin Nui Beo JSC (NBC) and Vinacomin Ha Tu Coal JSC (THT).

Finance-banking shares struggled yesterday. Of the nine listed banks, none of the large-cap bank stocks made gains.

Securities firms and insurance companies also performed poorly, dragged down leading stocks such as insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Bao Viet Securities Corp (BVS), HCM Securities Corp (HCM) and Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI).

Liquidity continued to slide with more than 156 million shares exchanged, worth VND2.2 trillion. The figures were down nearly 15 per cent in value and 6.9 per cent in volume. — VNS