Shares edged up for a second day yesterday on both exchanges despite Wednesday’s decision by the US Federal Reserve to hike its benchmark interest rate. — VNA/VNS Photo

Shares edged up for a second day yesterday on both exchanges despite Wednesday’s decision by the US Federal Reserve to hike its benchmark interest rate.

The VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up by 0.12 per cent to close at 665.9 points. The gauge increased 1.6 per cent on Wednesday.

On the smaller Ha Noi exchange, the HNX Index added 0.36 per cent to end at 78.9 points, lifting the two-day rally to nearly 1.3 per cent.

The overall market condition was positive with 217 stocks advancing, 195 declining and 283 closing flat.

On Wednesday, the US Fed raised its key short-term rate to a range of 0.5-0.75 per cent from 0.25-0.5 per cent. This is the second hike in a decade.

“World financial analysts anticipated the move, so domestic investors were prepared,” stock analysts at Vietnam Investment Securities Co wrote in a note.

Among large-cap stocks, brewery giant Sabeco (SAB) hit the ceiling of a 7 per cent rise for the eighth consecutive session to VND211,500 (US$9.32) per share, making it the most expensive stock nationwide.

The share has gained 92.3 per cent in value since its stock market debut on December 6, making it the second largest share by market capitalisation on the HCM Stock Exchange after Vinamilk (VNM), valued at over VND135.6 trillion.

On the other end of the spectrum, many losers were large-cap stocks such as Vinamilk (VNM), PV Gas (GAS), lender BIDV (BID), real estate developer VinGroup (VIC), Military Bank (MBB) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD).

Foreign investors continued to offload local shares in the HCM City’s market yesterday, for the value of nearly VND26 billion, a strong increase compared to a net value of just VND249 million on Wednesday.

In Ha Noi, they extended the net buying run to four days in a row for VND2.2 billion.

Trading value increased 11 per cent over Wednesday, totaling over VND3 trillion on the two exchanges, but the market volume decreased 34 per cent to over 170 million shares.

Fed rate hike could pressure exchange rate

In a long anticipated move, the US Federal Reserve decided Wednesday to raise the benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.5 per cent, marking the first hike since December 2015 and only the second in a decade.

The move is unlikely to shock the Vietnamese economy and monetary market, Nguyen Duc Thanh, Director of the Viet Nam Institute for Economic and Policy Research, told cafef.vn, though it is likely to place pressure on foreign exchange.

He said the trend had been anticipated worldwide for most of the year, but given that the dollar’s value is expected to increase compared to other currencies, the Viet Nam dong would depreciate like other currencies, he added.

On the positive side, Viet Nam’s foreign reserve of $40 billion is at a record high, so the country will benefit from the dollar’s appreciation, Thanh added.

The State Bank of Viet Nam yesterday revise up the VND/USD reference exchange rate by 11 dong from December 14 to touch VND22,135 per US dollar, nearly the highest level of VND22,137 recorded on November 25.

With the current trading band of +/- 3 per cent, the ceiling rate applicable for commercial banks during the day is VND22,799 and the floor rate is VND21,471 for one US dollar.

The rates listed by commercial banks at the opening hour saw light fluctuations.

Yesterday, the Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam offered a buying rate of VND22,700 and a selling rate of VND22,770 for one US dollar, both up 40 dong from the previous day.

The Asia Commercial Bank listed its buying rate at VND22,690, up 20 dong, and the selling rate at VND22,780, up 30 dong from Wednesday.

Domestic gold prices yesterday also plummeted by VND200,000-250,000 per teal from Wednesday’s level. — VNS