Final flurry snaps sluggish market
Shares rebounded in the last minutes of Jan. 6's session on the HCM Stock Exchange, erasing the effects of a
gloomy start to the day. The VN-Index closed a little higher than Jan. 6 to 482.31 points.
The overall volume of
trades declined, however, to just 29.5 million shares worth less than
698 billion VND (33 million USD).
Decliners
outnumbered advancers by 125-69, with banking shares such as Eximbank
(EIB), Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB) and Vietcombank (VCB) making
modest gains. EIB was the most-active share nationwide, with about 2.7
million traded.
Market insiders noted that many
major banks had recently forecast they would likely surpass business
targets for last year, helping whet investor appetites for bank shares.
Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), up 2.9 percent,
also rose for a third consecutive day, contributing heavily to the
overall gain in the VN-Index yesterday.
Trading on
the Hanoi Stock Exchange followed a similar pattern, with the HNX-Index
rising 0.25 percent after more active trading in the final minutes of
the session to close at 111.44 points.
Both volume and value fell by around 15 percent to 19.58 million shares worth 385.4 billion VND (18.4 million USD).
Losers outnumbered gainers by 134-119, with advancers concentrated entirely among mid caps or penny stocks.
Kim Long Securities (KLS), with 1.85 million shares exchanged, was the
most heavily-traded share on the Hanoi bourse, closing unchanged
at 15,800 VND (0.75 USD).
Analysts with Wall Street
Securities Co said that given the lack of supporting information, buyers
and sellers were being highly cautious, and they expected depressed
market liquidity for the next couple of sessions.
"Mid caps and penny stocks are unlikely to break out, and the indices
could be distorted by the more heavily-capitalised stocks," they wrote
in a daily market report.
However, money was waiting
on a positive signal to enter the market and might create an unexpected
development, they said, advising investors to keep a close eye on
leading shares such as banking and financial and real estate stocks.
Foreign investors remained net buyers on both exchanges yesterdays,
picking up a net of over 1.9 million shares, worth a combined 81 billion
VND (3.9 million USD)./.