VN-Index hits six-month peak

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 235 tickers gaining and 170 losing. Total trading volume climbed nearly 30 percent over the previous session to VND7.66 trillion ($329.67 million), far higher than August’s average of VND5 trillion per session.

The benchmark index had, within the first 15 minutes of trading, when At-The-Open orders are being executed, climbed above 900 points, considered a key psychological resistance zone by analysts, before fluctuating upwards another four points.

Daily cash flow in the past two weeks on the HoSE have generally hovered above VND6 trillion, typically seen during the bourse's busiest periods, despite warnings by various securities firms that the stock market may be overvalued and not reflect Vietnam’s true macroeconomic picture.

With social distancing measures implemented in some cities and localities, investors have been seeking to put dead money to work in equity markets, as evidenced by the increase in the number of first-time investor accounts created since Vietnam’s first reported Covid-19 case in late January, analysts said. This money helped prop up the VN-Index, the reports said.

Nevertheless, brokerage Bao Viet Securities, in their Tuesday report, have pointed out some positive macro-drivers for the VN-Index. One of them was a surge in disbursement of public investment in August, which reached an estimated VND47.36 trillion, up 51.3 percent year-on-year, the highest single-month disbursement since January 2014.

The Ministry of Transport is also expected to disburse substantial amounts for key infrastructural projects in September, which includes parts of the 2,109-kilometer transnational North-South Expressway, scheduled to complete in 2022, BVSC noted.

Regarding other investment channels, the State Bank of Vietnam has so far kept its low-interest rate stance since cutting several policy rates in early August, aiming to keep lending rates down to support Covid-19 affected businesses, while Vietnam’s national brand SJC gold lost 1.6 percent to VND56.8 million per tael as of Thursday noon.

Blue chips regain dominance

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps climbed 1.4 percent this session, with 25 tickers gaining and 4 losing.

Reversing the last three weeks’ trend, the VN30 blue-chips again made up over half of trading volume this session, accounting for 53 percent, whereas investors had prior opted to put their money in mid- and small- caps with strong individual financials.

HDB of private HDBank topped gains this session with 4.6 percent, followed by POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, up 4.5 percent.

Of Vietnam’s three biggest lenders by assets, VCB of Vietcombank rose 3.9 percent, BID of BIDV gained 1.9 percent, while CTG of VietinBank led losses with 0.8 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s largest cap, gained 1.9 percent, while VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail surged 3.1 percent, and VHM of real estate arm Vinhomes grew 1.1 percent.

Private banking stocks were all in the green, save for EIB of Eximbank which kept its opening price. TCB of Techcombank added 1.4 percent, VPB of VPBank 1.3 percent, and STB of Sacombank 0.9 percent.

The remaining biggest gainers this session were a mixed bag, with KDH of real estate developer Khang Dien House up 2.2 percent, SAB of major brewer Sabeco and VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air both up 2 percent, and MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group up 1.5 percent.

SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar and ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros were the only other losing stocks, down 0.7 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

Notably, off the VN30, the HVN ticker of national carrier Vietnam Airlines was banned from margin trading by HoSE, as a result of having suffered a post-tax loss of VND6.7 trillion in the first half of 2020.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, added 0.58 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.27 percent.

Foreign investors turned net buyers to the tune of VND372 billion on all three bourses, with buying pressure on CTG of VietinBank, and the FUEVFVND, an exchange-traded fund replicating the performance of stocks on the VN Diamond Index, a bag of 14 stocks, most of which are blue chips.