Stocks up as is investor caution, too

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Shares advanced on both local exchanges on September 5 after a long weekend holiday, driven by large-cap stocks. However, trading conditions suggest rough sessions ahead for the markets.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange rose 0.45 percent to close at 792.31 points. It had increased 2.2 percent last week and 1.9 percent in the previous three sessions.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange gained 0.56 percent to end at 104.38 points, rebounding from September 1’s loss of 0.1 percent. The northern market index finished up a total 1.1 percent last week.

More than 202 million shares were traded on both bourses, worth 3.85 trillion VND (171.4 million USD).

September 5’s trading figures constituted an 11.2 percent volume rise and 8.4 percent hike in value compared to September 1.

September 5’s gains on both local exchanges were attributed to good performances of large-cap stocks with the VN30 Index, which tracks the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation, gaining 0.38 percent.

Fourteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 basket advanced between 0.2 percent and 3.5 percent, with the biggest gainers being food producer Kido Group (KDC), PetroVietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 (NT2), lenders Sacombank (STB) and Vietcombank (VCB), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and property developer Vingroup (VIC).

[Market to maintain upward trend in September]

Among 20 industries in the stock market, property, banking and energy industry indices were also the three that posted good gains, which were 0.9 percent, 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Beside VIC, other stocks that also made good gains in the real estate sector included Sacomreal (SCR), Quoc Cuong Gia Lai JSC (QCG), Thang Long Investment Group (TIG) and Nha Bay Bay Investment Corp (NBB).

The Hanoi-based brokerage Bao Viet Securities (BVSC) wrote in its September 5 report that it saw very few positive signals with the good performance and flow of money limited to large-cap stocks.

Despite the market trading liquidity improvement from September 1, it remained much lower than the average of the previous 21 sessions, reflecting weakening market demand and cautious investment sentiment, it said.

That created an imbalance as total declining stocks on both bourses outnumbered gaining ones, proving that investors were seeking profit in speculative small- and medium-cap stocks, BVSC added.-VNA