The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 185 stocks gain and 172 lose. Total trading volume plunged nearly 15 percent over the previous session to VND4 trillion ($170.34 million), of which 75 percent were order-matched transactions.
The VN-Index had fallen to 770 points in the first hour of trading, then peaked at 781 points in the afternoon before settling at 780.70 points at the end.
The VN30 for HoSE’s 30 biggest market caps added 0.39 percent, with 15 gainers and eight losers.
VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air and SAB of major brewer Sabeco were two of the biggest gainers this session, surging 4.7 percent and 3 percent respectively. They also had the biggest impact on the VN-Index given their large market caps, adding 1.36 points to it, according to data from brokerage firm VNDIRECT.
SAB in particular, seems to be enjoying a resurgence, gaining in 15 out of the last 17 sessions. It rose from VND115,500 ($4.92) on March 25 to VND157,600 ($6.71) Thursday, a 24 percent gain.
The stock had continuously tumbled since early January, when a new regulation doubling drink driving fines took effect. SAB was trading at VND223,830 ($9.55) per share when the stock market re-opened on January 2 after the New Year break.
CTD of construction giant Coteccons topped percentage gains this session, rising 4.8 percent, and after VJC and SAB, was followed by PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, up 2.8 percent, and HDB of private lender HDBank, up 1.5 percent.
Banking sector stocks saw mixed results this session. In the group of three of Vietnam’s biggest state-owned lenders by assets, VCB of Vietcombank added 0.4 percent, BID of BDIV kept its opening price, while CTG of VietinBank shed 0.3 percent.
For private banks, all mid-sized in terms of total assets, STB of Sacombank rose 0.4 percent, while EIB of Eximbank, TCB of Techocmbank, and VPB of VPBank kept their opening prices.
Leading losses this session were POW shares of PetroVietnam Power, Vietnam’s second-biggest electricity generator, which fell 1.2 percent, followed by BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group, down 0.7 percent, and REE of appliances maker Refrigerated Electrical Engineering Corp., down 0.6 percent.
VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest cap, edged down 0.1 percent this session, and its subsidiary Vinhomes, under the ticker VHM, fell 0.4 percent.
Notably, GVR of the Vietnam Rubber Group, which is outside the VN30, had the biggest negative impact on the VN-Index this session. The stock fell 3.14 percent, and took away 0.31 points from the benchmark index.
Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.38 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market edged up 0.05 percent.
Foreign investors were net sellers for the 13th consecutive sessions on all three bourses, for a total of VND215 billion ($9.17 million) this session. Selling pressure was mostly focused on VIC of Vingroup and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk