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HCMC shares fall on US fears
The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange’s two-day rally ran out of steam Friday after the market was rattled by an overnight sharp decline on Wall Street, dealers said.
The VN-Index slid 0.98 points, or 0.4 percent, to finish the week at 245.7. Of the index members, 64 rose and 68 fell as volumes totaled 7.3 million shares. The index has fallen more than 22 percent this year.
By sector, financials, industrials and healthcare were among the losers while consumer staples was the biggest gainer.
Ngo Thanh Phat, HCMC-based investment analyst at the Vietnam International Securities Co., or VISecurities, said: “Vietnamese investors have started to follow the movements of the US stock market in making their trading decisions like they did in November. This is not good for listed companies here because many of them are still fundamentally good.
“It is understandable for shares of export companies like textile and seafood to drop, but those like food and consumer products should still be good. Investors are very cautious about buying now.”
In the US, the Dow fell on Thursday by 281.40, or 4.1 percent, to 6,594.44, its lowest close since April 1997. The S&P 500 index dropped 30.32, or 4.3 percent, to 682.55, its lowest close since September 1996.
In Asia, stock markets resumed their downward slide Friday following US falls.
Japan’s Nikkei lost 3.5 percent to be less than 200 points above a 26-year low hit last October. The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was down 0.5 percent. Australia fell 1.4 percent and Hong Kong shed 1.6 percent.
The Vietnamese market has also been hurt by a drop in earnings last year of about 30 percent, due in part to companies writing off losses made on the property market, HSBC Holdings Plc said in a note dated Wednesday.
Still, “there were some impressive results too, mainly from companies that stuck to their core businesses,” wrote Garry Evans, a Hong Kong-based HSBC strategist.
He cited Vinamilk (VNM), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD), steel and real estate company Hoa Phat (HPG), Vinh Son-Song Hinh Hydropower (VSH), PetroVietnam Transportation (PVT), and Vietnam National Reinsurance Corp. (VNR) as companies reporting strong profit growth.
“Adventurous investors might be willing to dip their toes back into the water on a long-term basis to buy some structurally sound companies on reasonable valuations,” he wrote.
Stock movements
Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Co. (TAC) rallied for a sixth day, rising 4.8 percent to VND19,500, the highest since February 4. The HCMC-based company will pay a dividend of VND2,000 per share on April 28, according to a statement posted on the exchange’s website.
“The VND2,000 dividend is pretty good compared with other companies’ rates,” Ngo Huu Hung, chief analyst at Ho Chi Minh City-based Dai Viet Securities Co, said.
Dong Nai Plastic Joint Stock Co. (DNP) advanced VND300, or 3.9 percent, to close at VND8,000. The company, based in HCMC’s neighboring Dong Nai Province, announced a pre-tax profit of VND4.12 billion (US$235,000) in the last quarter of 2008, up 84 percent from the third quarter.
Furniture marker and real estate developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), the third-biggest company traded at the HCMC bourse, stayed unchanged at VND51,500. The company, based in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, said on the bourse’s website it targets a pre-tax profit of VND1.15 trillion ($65.8 million) this year, up 14 percent from 2008.
Thao Vi
Reuters, Bloomberg, thanh nien
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