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Trades slow to pre-Tet trickle
Gains on Wall Street helped fuel heavier purchases on the HCM City Stock Exchange on Wednesday, lifting the VN-Index to a close of 490.91 points, a gain of 1.66 per cent.
Buy orders were concentrated in small amounts, however, and overall market value remained below the VND1 trillion mark, at a meagre VND813.64 billion (US$43.9 million). Total volume on the day reached just 18.4 million shares.
Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) was the most-active share with a volume of 808,550.
Bao Viet Securities Company analyst Nguyen Duc Thi blamed the unenergetic volumes on the impending Tet holiday, with investors more intent on taking a break than on making trades.
Investors who had been active last year in leveraged trading might also be focused on avoiding further borrowing and expected rises in interest rates, Thi said, predicting that investment risks would remain high and recommending that day traders adjust a more risk-averse stance.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index also rose by 1.49 percent to a close of 160.98. But market volume fell to an insignificant 8.7 million shares, worth a combined VND285.33 billion ($15.4 million).
Kim Long Securities Company (KLS) returned to the position as most-active share on the northern bourse, and nationally, with a volume of 1.7 million traded.
Stockbiz Investment Company Director Ho Ngoc Viet Cuong predicted little change in the markets this week, with the domestic holiday approaching and global markets undergoing ongoing corrections and still burdened by worries over economic recovery prospects.
"The impact from global markets will be over during the holiday," said Cuong.
Foreign investors continued to be net buyers on the southern stock exchange, picking up a net of 400,000 shares, while they were net sellers on the northern market by a slender margin of 30,300 shares.
A report from HSBC on the Viet Nam Equity Market said that foreign investors had eased their sales and that values were beginning to re-emerge in the domestic market. Nevertheless, low and falling market volumes continued to be a concern for this investor segment, the report said.
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