VN-Index kicks week off in the green

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw a fairly balanced session with 205 stocks gaining and 172 losing. Total transaction volume hit VND5.35 trillion ($231 million), an above-average trading day on the HoSE.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest capped stocks gained 0.21 percent, with 11 tickers gaining and 14 losing.

CTD of construction giant Coteccons topped gains at 6.9 percent, its ceiling price. Coteccons had just announced the resignation of Nguyen Sy Cong and Nguyen Tat Thang, two of its top executives, but did not elaborate on the reason.  

The executives are to be replaced with personnel from Kustocem and The8th, two Singapore-based construction investors, who own 18.23 percent and 10.42 percent of the Vietnamese construction giant, respectively.

Kutsocem and The8th had in early-June voiced claims that some senior Coteccons executives were acting in ways that gave rise to conflicts of interests and violated corporate governance principles, allegations the Coteccons board denied.

Kustocem itself called for an extraordinary general meeting on June 2, causing CTD to plunge two consecutive days, but the stock shot up again by 7 percent when Coteccons’ then-general director Nguyen Sy Cong issued a press release clarifying its business practices, stating Kusto had last October made the same move to replace management and acquire a bigger stake in the construction firm.

On the VN30, CTD was followed by VHM of construction giant Vinhomes, up 2.4 percent, and MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, up 2.3 percent.

MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World and SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar both gained 1.7 percent, while TCB of private Techombank, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas added 1.2 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Of Vietnam’s biggest state-owned lenders by assets, CTG of VietinBank added 0.4 percent, VCB of Vietcombank edged up 0.1 percent, while BID of BIDV fell 0.4 percent.

Topping losses this session were stocks of private banks. STB of Sacombank shed 1.7 percent, HDB of HDBank 1.1 percent, and VPB of VPBank 0.4 percent.

Other major losing stocks included BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group, down 1 percent, VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air, 0.9 percent, VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, 0.7 percent, and SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., 0.7 percent.

After rising 6.9 percent to its ceiling price last Friday, VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the largest capped stock on HoSE, fell 0.4 percent.

Given its high market cap, VIC seldom moves over 2 percent, with the latest session move ascribed to investors exchanging around VND165.41 billion ($7.14 million) worth of VIC shares, using at-the-close (ATC) orders.

Meanwhile, HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, shed 0.63 percent, and UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.6 percent.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers to the tune of VND30 billion ($1.29 million) on all three bourses, with buying pressure mostly on VNM of Vinamilk, and stocks outside the VN30.