Investors observe market development at the Tan Viet Securities trading floor (Source: VNS/VNA) Vietnamese banking shares rose on the two local bourses on September 18 after the US central bank decided to maintain the current interest rate.
Both the benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange and the HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange edged up 0.7 percent to finish at 566.25 points and 77.75 points, respectively.
The banking sector was up 1.1 percent after the US central bank decided to maintain the interest rate at zero percent early on September 18.
"Investors don't have to worry about the flow of foreign capital into Vietnam ’s market. One of the reasons is the exchange rate between the dong and the dollar will remain stable until the end of the year," Truong Van Phuoc, Deputy Director of the National Financial Supervisory Commission said.
Seven of nine listed banks improved, including Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB), Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) and Vietcombank (VCB). Their gains ranged between 0.9 and 3.6 percent.
The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) on September 18 lost 1.2 percent and traded more than 6.9 million of its shares. That was an improvement as the share dropped 6.8 percent and traded only 198,000 in total two days earlier.
In addition, two investment funds - the Market Vector VNM ETF and the FTSE VNM ETF – helped boost trading on the market, especially stocks that would be added into the indices of the two funds.
Petrovietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 (NT2) was up 2.5 percent with more than 7.3 million shares and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG) rose 1.3 percent with more than 7.4 million shares.
There were also four other shares on both bourses that traded more than seven million shares. Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Co (VCG) on the northern bourse was the most active stock with more than 7.7 million shares and gained 0.9 percent.
Both local bourses on September 18 traded more than 209 million shares. Total market trading value was 3.64 trillion VND (162 million USD), twice the total trading value on the previous day.
However, one of the leading sectors on the market – energy firms – reduced their gains in the early session as the global oil price was on a slight decline. West Texas Intermediate crude on September 18 traded at 46.73 USD a barrel, a decrease of 0.4 percent.
On the local market, Petrovietnam Gas Corp (GAS) was down 1.2 percent, erasing its gain of 0.4 percent in the morning and Petrovietnam Drilling & Well Services (PVD) made a slight gain of 0.8 percent.-VNA
