Foreign investors net buyers as VN-Index rises

The VN-Index had faced corrective pressure in Tuesday’s morning session, continually ducking above and below its opening price before strong buying pressure in the afternoon pushed it into the green.

232 stocks gained while 131 lost on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based. Total trading volume fell slightly compared to the previous session, to VND5.79 trillion ($248.28 million), but remained far higher than last month’s average of VND4.2 trillion ($180.1 million) per session.

The HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, also added 0.19 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.26 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers on all three bourses to the tune of VND163 billion ($7 million), the third time they have net bought since January 30, when Vietnam began closing its borders with China to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The other net buying sessions were one in late-March, ending a streak of 33 consecutive net selling sessions, and one last Friday, when the VN-Index soared 2.16 percent.

The VN30-Index for HoSE’s 30 largest caps gained 0.68 percent, with 18 gainers and 11 losers.

PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry topped gains this session, rising 6.9 percent to its ceiling price. The stock was on its fifth straight gaining session, with brokerage Bao Viet Securities (BVSC) saying in a recent report that Covid-19 posed mid- and long-term opportunities to the jewelry chain by making business harder for smaller jewelers.

Next were VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, up 5 percent, CTD of construction giant Coteccons, up 4.1 percent, and BVH of insurance firm Bao Viet Group, up 3.4 percent.

Oil and gas stocks saw a positive session, with PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex rising 2.8 percent, POW of electricity firm PetroVietnam Power, 2.5 percent, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, 0.3 percent.

Global oil prices rose after Saudi Arabia pledged Monday to deepen oil production cuts in June to help drain the glut in the global market caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. As of 4:36 p.m. Tuesday, Brent futures were up 1.42 percent to $30.04 a barrel, while the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate Crude was up 3.02 percent, to $24.87 a barrel.

On HoSE, banking stocks continued to perform well with Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, CTG of VietinBank, VCB of Vietcombank, and BID of BIDV rising 1.9 percent, 1.5 percent, and 0.1 percent respectively.

TCB of Techcombank led gains of private banks with 2 percent, after two consecutive sessions of hitting ceiling price.  It was followed by HDB of HDBank, up 0.7 percent, and STB of Sacombank, up 0.1 percent.

In the opposite direction, NVL of real estate developer Novaland led losses with 2.4 percent. Of the other two real estate blue chips, ROS of FLC Faros and VHM of Vinhomes, the former fell 1.1 percent while the latter kept its opening price.

Other losing tickers included SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, down 2 percent, MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World, also down 2 percent, and MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, down1.7 percent.

According to analysts, the market’s recovery will continue to be challenged when it nears psychological resistance thresholds of 860-880 in the short term, with corrective pressure discouraging investors from investing too much in stocks.