Shares upbeat after holiday weekend hinh anh 1Illustrative Image (Source: Internet)
Hanoi (VNA) - Shares advanced during the first session on May 3 after the National Reunification and International Labour holidays as investors remained positive about the market outlook.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged up 0.25 percent to close at 719.54, the highest level since April 14. The southern market index has expanded 1.7 percent in the last four sessions.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 0.32 percent to end at 89.82 points, lifting the growth of the last four sessions to over 2.2 percent.

Financial stocks like banks, insurers and securities companies were among the major movers. They included Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB), Vietcombank (VCB), Sacombank (STB), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM Securities Corp (HCM).

The securities sector recorded average growth of 1.64 percent, followed by the banking group with a rise of 1.3 percent and the insurance sector up 0.73 percent, vietstock.vn revealed.

Large-cap stocks saw big divergence with 16 of the largest 30 shares by market value and liquidity on the HCM City’s bourse rising while 11 declined.

Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp (REE) was the biggest gainer with a maximum daily rise of nearly 7 percent, settling at 29,750 VND (1.31 USD) a share.

On the other side, oil and gas stocks slumped along with global oil.

Major listed energy shares such as PV Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drillings and Well Service (PVD), PetroVietnam Drilling Mud (PVC) and PetroVietnam Technical Service (PVS) declined, with PVD dropping to the floor price of 16,500 VND a share.

However, analysts from BIDV Securities Joint Stock Company warned of a possible downward movement with the VN-Index approaching the resistance level of 720 points given large divergence of major large caps.

Liquidity increased with total trading volume reaching 278.5 million shares worth a combined 5.2 trillion VND (229.1 million USD) in the two markets, up 29.3 percent in volume and 23.8 percent in value compared to daily average figures of last week.

Foreign investors were net sellers in HCM City’s market on May 3 for a net value of 263 billion VND while they picked up shares worth a net value of 1.4 billion VND on the Hanoi bourse.-VNA
VNA