HA NOI (VNS) – The stock market opened this week's trading on a positive note with shares on both exchanges climbing on investor optimism.
The VN-Index on the HCM City Stock Exchange surpassed the psychological barrier of 505 points, closing yesterday's session up 0.81 per cent at 506.66 points.
Trading was busier towards the end of the afternoon with a total of nearly 52.2 million shares, worth nearly VND947 billion (US$45.1 million), changing hands, up 10 per cent in volume and 15 per cent in value compared to Friday's levels.
Blue chips continued to support the market when many of the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity such as Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vinamilk (VNM), FPT Corp (FPT), Military Bank (MBB) and Vietcombank (VCB) posted gains, pushing the VN30 up 0.85 per cent to 575.02 points.
According to analysts at Viet Nam Investment Securities Co, speculative money seems to have started pouring into fundamental stocks, which were formerly favoured by long-term investors. The analysts said investors seem to be quite confident in those stocks due to their good financial indicators and would not sell off these stocks on a large scale even in declining sessions.
"This trend is spreading to many stocks and can create an investment strategy in the coming time," said the analysts in a report, predicting this would be the force that helps maintain the market's uptrend.
Property developer Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) led the southern market's trades with more than 3.5 million shares exchanged, but the shares lost over 2.8 per cent to be traded at VND6,900 a share.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also jumped 0.59 per cent to 61.36 points on trading value of VND416 billion ($19.8 million) by the end of the session.
Trading in shares of Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) accounted for nearly 40 per cent of total market value with over 20.6 million shares changing hands, becoming the most active code on the northern bourse.
Late last week, the lender announced a huge profit of almost VND1.15 trillion ($54.8 million) in 2012 while its bad debt ratio reduced to less than 5 per cent and a dividend payout set at 8 per cent.
SHB rose 5.8 per cent to close yesterday at VND7,200 a share. — VNS