Shares bounced back on the two local exchanges yesterday from Wednesday’s shake, driven by better market sentiment on expectations for positive economic policies coming from the new US President.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 1.2 per cent to close at 678.17 points and the HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange gained 1.6 per cent to end at 81.38 points.

All sectors that suffered losses in the previous session returned to positive territory after investors were reassured on expectations for higher economic performance as the new US President stated in his speech after winning the race to the presidency on Wednesday.

Of the nine listed banks, Vietcombank (VCB), Sacombank (STB), Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) were the strongest gainers. These stocks rose between 1.1 per cent and 3.8 per cent.

Large brokerage firms also saw their stocks go up, such as HCM Securities Corp (HCM), Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Corp (SHS), Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI) and VNDirect Securities Corp (VND).

Energy producers advanced as crude prices continued to rise after the new US President promised to spend more on building infrastructure and boosting demand for commodities.

London-traded Brent crude was choppy yesterday, rising 0.6 per cent to trade at US$46.65 a barrel to maintain its growth since November 4. Brent crude on Wednesday managed to climb 0.7 per cent to finish at $46.36 a barrel, reversing its intra-day fall of more than 3 per cent.

Higher oil prices benefited local energy firms such as PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS), which were up 1.3 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

Steel producers, including Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Tien Len Steel JSC (TLH) also advanced after official data projected this year’s total steel production would reach 26.8 million tonnes and consumption of steel products in Viet Nam would remain high over the coming years, with a yearly growth rate of 15 per cent.

“The strong market rebound yesterday was attributed to higher investor confidence, which came after the world’s stocks had a positive reaction to the new US President,” Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Corp (SHS) said in a note.

Investors could carry this good momentum into today’s session and that would help raise the market further, SHS said.

Investors could also surf on stocks of companies that use basic commodities as their production inputs, such as steel, copper and rubber as global commodities markets were expecting the new US President to come up with a positive economic policy, BIDV Securities Corp said.

More than 167.5 million shares were traded yesterday worth VND2.6 trillion ($115.8 million), down nearly 18 per cent in volume and 27 per cent in value from Wednesday’s numbers. — VNS