Financial stocks lead upturn, market stays flat

Stock traders at MayBank Kim Eng Securities Company in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Shares rose on July 4 as traders continued to focus on large-cap stocks on expectations of a longer rally.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange was up 0.31 percent to close at 778.88 points.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 1.20 percent to end at 100.33 points.

Financial stocks were the market’s driving force with securities firms seeing an average growth of 2.5 percent and bank stocks rising 1.1 percent on average, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Six of nine listed banks on the two exchanges advanced, of which the three biggest listed lenders, Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and BIDV (BID), went up 1 percent, 2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Three smaller banks on the northern market, including Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) and Nam Viet Bank (NVB) increased between 1.9-5.3 percent.

Big brokerage firms such as Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), HCM Securities (HCM), BIDV Securities (BSC), VNDirect Securities (VND), FPT Securities (FTS), Vietinbank Securities (CTS) and Sai Gon-Hanoi Securities (SHS) leapt between 1-6.4 percent.

Other large-cap gainers included PV Gas (GAS), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), brewer Sabeco (SAB), steelmakers Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells Service (PVD).

On the defensive side, rising profit-taking selling pressure pushed down Vinamilk (VNM), VinGroup (VIC), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG), DHG Pharmaceutical (DHG) and FPT Corp (FPT).

“The market maintained its uptrend after suffering volatility around 760 for the VN30. However, we still forecast a short-term decline in this zone,” Tran Hai Yen, a stock analyst at Bao Viet Securities Co wrote in a report on July 3.

The key VN-Index gained 1 percent last week and has expanded 5.2 percent last month.

Yen suggested investors take advantage of rally sessions to partially sell short-term positions, especially stocks which have dramatically risen.

A total of 265.4 million shares worth a combined 4.6 trillion VND (202.6 million USD) were traded on the two markets, almost unchanged compared to last week’s figures.

Foreign traders continued to comb local shares on the HCM Stock Exchange, picking up a net buy value of 92.2 billion VND, marking an 11th consecutive net buying session. They were net sellers in Hanoi’s market, however, for a modest value of 14 billion VND.-VNA