Stocks post strongest gain in nearly eight weeks

By Dat Nguyen March 21, 2022 | 01:47 am PT

An investor looks at stock prices on a laptop at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index surged 1.76 percent to 1,494.95 points Monday, its biggest gain in nearly eight weeks, as global indexes rose amid continuing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

The index started off in the green and went up gradually to close nearly 26 points higher in its fifth straight session in the green.

VN-Index has risen nearly 49 points in the last five sessions.

Most U.S., European and Asian stocks moved up Monday as traders cheered a Russian bond payment that averted a historic sovereign default.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, dropped marginally to VND24.22 trillion ($1.06 billion) Monday.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 27 tickers gaining, led by NVL of real estate developer Novaland Group and PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate Development with a ceiling rise of 6.9 percent.

NVL is now at the highest since January 13 and PDR since February 21.

MSN of conglomerate Masan Group rose 6.1 percent after plummeting in the last two weeks.

GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas gained 4.7 percent, and KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House gained 4.5 percent.

Two blue chip tickers bucked the trend, with VJC of budget airline Vietjet losing 3.3 percenet and BID of state-owned lender BIDV 0.2 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of $1.2 billion, a turnaround from two weeks of mostly net sale.

They focused on STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank and GEX of electrical equipment maker Gelex Group.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 1.57 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.12 percent.