Banking stocks lead as VN-Index edges up

The index had fluctuated within a small band of 3 points over the course of the trading day, and had settled at around 772 points in the final hour of trading, but plunged 2.5 points after an influx of sell orders were lodged just before the end of the session.

207 tickers gained and 146 lost on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based. A total of VND4.19 trillion ($178.53 million) worth of shares changed hands this session, equivalent to the average trading level so far on the exchange so far this month.

Although 20 stocks gained and 10 lost on the VN30, the basket of 30 biggest market capped stocks on HoSE, its VN30-Index ended up falling 0.06 percent because many of the losers were the VN30’s biggest caps.

SAB of major brewer Sabeco and the VN30’s seventh highest cap plunged 4.1 percent, the second time in a row the stock led losses.

It was followed by VPB of private VPBank, down 2.4 perent, CTD of construction giant Coteccons, down 1.7 percent, and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, down 1.5 percent.

VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes shed 1.5 percent, while VIC of its parent corporation Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate and HoSE’s largest cap, edged down 0.1 percent.

In the opposite direction, stocks of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets were among the biggest gainers. CTG of VietinBank surged 5 percent, VCB of Vietcombank added 1.5 percent, and BID of BDIV rose 1.3 percent.

Also in the green were four stocks of mid-sized banks, with MBB of state-owned Military Bank adding 0.9 percent, SBT of private Sacombank adding 0.7 percent, TCB of private Techcombank 0.6 percent, and HDB of private HDBank 0.5 percent.  

Oil and gas stocks also performed well this session. POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power rose 2.4 percent, PLX of petroleum distributor, 1.5 percent and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, 1 percent.

Other major gainers included VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air, up 2.3 percent, VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, up 1.5 percent, and MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World, up 1 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.55 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.21 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the 22nd consecutive session on all three bourses for a total of VND480 billion ($20.45 million). In particular, foreign investors offloaded 15 million VGC shares of Viglacera, a major construction materials company, worth VND264 billion ($11.25 million), using the put-through option.