Stocks rebound after tough week

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares on September 19 bounced back from a gloomy trading week, driven by better investor confidence in blue chips following the re-allocation of ETFs' investment portfolios and the energy sector was boosted by higher oil prices.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 1 percent to finish at 657.89 points after losing 2.3 percent in all five trading days of last week.

The HNX Index on the smaller Ha n oi Stock Exchange edged up 0.5 percent to close at 82.74 points, ending a three-day decline of 1.8 percent.

"The end of investment portfolio reviews by Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) late last week bolstered investor confidence during the session and increased market trading liquidity," Sai g on-Ha n oi Securities Co (SHS) wrote in its daily report.

The market received strong support from some blue chips such as Vietcombank (VCB), consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Sai g on Securities Inc (SSI) after those stocks had suffered from losing streaks last week.

VCB, MSN, BVH and SSI closed up between 3.1 percent and 4.8 percent at the end of the day. Those are also the large-cap stocks that have suffered from foreign selling during the ETFs' rearrangement of their investment indexes.

A rebound in global crude prices during intraday trading on September 19 also contributed to the market's gains by lifting the energy sector, after Iran – one of the world's top oil exporters – showed its willingness to co-operate to stabilise the oil market and increase prices.

London-traded Brent crude on September 19 added 1.2 percent to trade at 46.32 USD a barrel after slumping 5.3 percent last week.

Higher oil prices resulted in the increase of local energy stocks such as PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS), which advanced between 1.3 percent and 4.7 percent.

Lower foreign selling on September 19 also had a positive impact on the stock market, according to Bao Viet Securities Co (BVSC).

Though remaining as net sellers for a 14th day on September 19 , net sell value by foreign investors was only 12 billion VND (more than 533,000 USD ) on the two local exchanges, which was a big improvement from the daily average net foreign sell value of nearly 400 billion VND last week.

The Vietnamese central bank on September 19 raised its daily reference mid-point rate for currency trading between the dong and the US dollar by 3 VND to 21,959 VND for a dollar.

Dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) – the largest stock by market capitalisation – remained the worst-hit by foreign selling. VNM dropped 1.4 percent on September 19 .

Investors on September 19 traded more than 147.5 million shares worth 2.89 trillion VND, a slight decrease from last week's daily trading value of 3.1 trillion VND.-VNA