VN-Index gains amid foreign investor sell-offs

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 225 tickers gain and 180 lose. Total trading volume rose 10 percent over the past session, reaching VND7.69 trillion ($334.37 million), marking one of the highest liquidity sessions this month.

Analysts said the positive sentiment this session was partly a spill over effect from gains on U.S. indices, which represent the most influential stock markets in the world. The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 0.6 percent, and the S&P 500 climbed 0.2 percent Thursday.

Gains on the indices came after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank has formally agreed that it would abandon its policy of pre-emptively raising rates to stave off inflation, allowing it to keep interest rates lower for a longer period.

However, growth this session was hampered by selling pressure from foreign investors, with their net sell of VND1.23 trillion on HoSE being four times the average of net sell sessions in the past two weeks.

The two most sold stocks Friday were CTG of VietinBank and VCB of Vietcombank, two of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, at VND681.72 billion and VND147.88 billion respectively.

Although there were no recent major announcements on business activities made by either bank, the State Bank of Vietnam had released Friday morning a new draft regulation for public comment, which included a clampdown on the trading of financial instruments.

Under the draft regulation, banks and credit institutions would be restricted to trading promissory notes, treasury bills, certificates of deposit and term bonds with less than 12 months remaining for their maturity.

Friday’s gains were driven by blue chips, accounting for over half of the total trading volume, contrary to the trend seen in the past two weeks when investors focused on trading mid-caps. The VN30-Index for HoSE’s 30 largest caps rose 0.91 percent, with 18 tickers rising and 8 falling.

Topping gains this session was MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, surging 4.4 percent, followed by BID of state-owned banking giant BIDV, with 3.7 percent, and PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, up 3.4 percent.

EIB of Eximbank, VPB of VPBank, and TCB of Techombank, all private mid-sized lenders, were some of the best performers, up 2.9 percent, 2.2. percent and 2.1 percent respectively.

Other major gainers were VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, up 1.8 percent, MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, up 1.6 percent, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, up 1.6 percent.

CTG of VietinBank climbed 1.4 percent, while VCB of Vietcombank shed 0.1 percent.

Leading losses was VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s largest cap, with 1.2 percent. VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail kept its opening price, while VHM of real estate arm Vinhomes edged up 0.1 percent.

Other major losing stocks were PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, down 0.9 percent, SAB of major brewer Sabeco, down 0.5 percent, and KDH of real estate developer Khang Dien House, down 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, gained 0.74 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.47 percent.