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Brisk trading lifts VN-Index over 400
The VN-Index poked its nose above 400 for the first time in seven months last week, picking up a cumulative 14.42 points over five trading sessions to end the week at 404.58, an increase of 3.7 per cent over the previous Friday's close.
Volumes and values meanwhile reached record highs on the HCM City Stock Exchange, with an average of 58 million shares changing hands per day, an increase of 19 per cent over the previous week's daily average. Daily turnover averaged VND1.78 trillion (US$100 million), an increase of 24 per cent.
Tourism shares made the sharpest gains on the week, up 19.59 per cent, according to FPT Securities Co data, followed by communications shares, up 13.62 per cent, and construction and building materials, up 10.86 per cent.
Retail shares were the worst performers, slumping 36.95 per cent, followed by chemicals, down 6.19 per cent, and technology stocks, down 4.18 per cent.
Foreign investors were only moderately active last week, responsible for the trades of 31.4 million shares.
They focused their buys on shares of Sacombank (STB), picking up a net 2.7 million STB shares, according to VNDirect Securities Co. Construction firm Vinaconex (VCG) was the least favoured by foreign investors, who unloaded a net of over a million VCG shares.
Foreigners finished the week as net buyers overall of 5.85 million shares, with a net value of VND245.7 billion ($13.8 million).
Investment flowed into smaller stocks, pushing their prices up. "This sends negative signals about the market, as the increases in many shares did not arise from their real values or any positive news," said Tran Quang Vinh of the FPT Securities Co brokerage department.
Blue chips continued to weaken last week, with heavier sales by foreign investors this week likely to put "great pressure" on domestic stock indices, Vinh added.
"It will be hard for the market to keep increasing as it has over the last few weeks."
The VN-Index was expected to range between 390 and 417 points this week, said Vinh.
Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh said last week that signs of improvement in the economy were facilitating stock market rallies. But the effectiveness of the economic stimulus package, the State budget deficit, inflation risks, and rising unemployment remained top concerns of National Assembly deputies during last week's session.
"While we can absolutely expect good news about company profits in the second quarter, investors should be cautious about investing at this time, if they are targeting short-profits," said VNDirect Securities Co analyst Le Tuan Anh, predicting only a moderate downward adjustment this week.
In Ha Noi last week, the HASTC-Index increased by a combined 3.82 per cent to close at 141.36. Daily revenues averaged VND943.6 billion ($53 million) - an increase of 29 per cent - on a daily average volume of 34.4 million shares, 27 per cent higher than the previous week's average.
Vinh predicted that the HASTC-Index would range between 136 and 147 points this week.
VietNamNet, VietNamNews
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