Mid-sized banks spearhead VN-Index gain

167 stocks rose and 172 stocks fell on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), Vietnam’s main bourse, on which the VN-Index is based.

Monday’s session follows a particularly poor week when the novel coronavirus-induced selloffs saw the VN-Index lose 5.54 percent, or over $6 billion in market cap.

The VN30-Index for the bourse’s 30 biggest market caps rose 0.41 percent, with 13 gaining and an equal number losing.

Half of the top six gaining tickers this session belonged to mid-sized lenders. STB of private Sacombank topped gains with 6.5 percent, followed by EIB of private Eximbank, and MBB of state-owned Military Bank, which added 2.9 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

The other three gainers included SAB of Vietnam’s biggest brewer Sabeco, up 4.9 percent, GAS of state-owned energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, up 4.2 percent, and CTD of construction giant Coteccons, 2.7 percent.

The market also saw three more stocks from the construction and real estate sector rising. ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros rose a modest 1.1 percent, following a month when it was the most volatile stock on HoSE, swinging from floor to ceiling prices for most sessions.

NVL of Novaland and VHM of Vinhomes, both real estate developers, gained 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.

In the other direction, PLX of state-owned petroleum distributor Petrolimex was the biggest loser, down 1.6 percent, followed by SBT of agricultural firm TTC Sugar, down 1.2 percent.

Shares of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, contrary to their mid-sized counterparts, were among the losers.

CTG of VietinBank shed 1 percent, BID of BDIV, 0.8 percent, and VCB of Vietcombank 0.7 percent. VPB of private lender VPBank was also dropped 1.1 percent this session.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and midcap stocks, added 0.99 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for unlisted public companies edged up 0.22 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the 15th consecutive session on all three bourses, with a net sell value of VND341 billion ($14.8 million).

Selling pressure was mostly focused on MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, which kept its opening price, and VJC of budget carrier VietJet Air, which lost 0.9 percent.