VN-Index up for seventh straight session

The benchmark index had stayed clear in the green for most of Monday’s trading session, but dipped slightly towards the end to close marginally above its 943.30 points opening.

Commenting on a week of consecutive gaining sessions, analysts have warned that the VN-Index would likely see much corrective pressure from investors trying to cash in on short-term gains.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw a fairly balanced session with 205 stocks rising and 197 falling. Total trading volume fell by more than 15 percent over the previous session to VND7.88 trillion ($339.9 million), but remained far above last month’s average of VND6.6 trillion.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps rose 0.21 percent, accounting for nearly 60 percent of total trading volume. Among the 30 stocks, 12 gained and 17 lost.

The banking sector saw some clear outperformers this session. CTG of state-owned giant VietinBank surged 3.2 percent, while MBB of mid-sized Military Bank added 2.2 percent.

In the private sector, STB of Sacombank and TCB of Techcombank rose 2.5 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

Banking stocks in the red only suffered modest losses. BID of BIDV and VCB of Vietcombank, both state-owned lenders with the highest asset values in the sector, shed 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.

HDB of private HDBank edged down 0.2 percent, VPB of VPBank, 0.6 percent, and EIB of Eximbank fell 0.9 percent.

Food and beverage blue chips did better than most, with SBT of agricultural firm TTC Sugar climbing 2.8 percent, MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, 2.5 percent, and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, 0.3 percent.

Topping losses this session was TCH of truck dealer Hoang Huy Group, down 2.4 percent, followed by three oil and gas tickers. GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas shed 1.9 percent, POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, 1.5 percent and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, 1.2 percent.

Other major losers included VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes, down 1.2 percent, PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, 0.9 percent, and HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, was up 0.76 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.16 percent.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers on all three bourses to the tune of nearly VND385 billion, with net selling pressure mostly on CTG of VietinBank and MSN of Masan Group, the best performing blue chips this session.