Business

Foreign investors shore up Index

Buoyed by heavy foreign investor interest in a few key stocks, the VN-Index gained 1.2 percent on Jan. 20 to close the day's session on the HCM Stock Exchange at 511.98 points – even as declining shares outnumbered gainers by 129-99.
Buoyed by heavy foreign investor interest in a few key stocks, theVN-Index gained 1.2 percent on Jan. 20 to close the day's session on theHCM Stock Exchange at 511.98 points – even as declining sharesoutnumbered gainers by 129-99.

Bao Viet Holdings(BVH) and Masan Group (MSN), both having a large impact on movements ofthe VN-Index, each rose to their ceiling prices on the day, with foreigninvestors accounting for over 80 percent of the volume in both stocks.

Foreign investment funds might be playing a shellgame of stepping up buying of certain blue chips that have a heavyinfluence on the VN-Index, thereby increasing the net value of theirentire portfolios, said an expert familiar with the industry who askedto remain anonymous.

Foreign investors bought a netof 2.3 million shares on the HCM exchange on Jan. 20, accounting for18.2 percent of the total market volume of 41.2 million shares. Thevalue of trades remained modest at 1.1 trillion VND (52.4 million USD).

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell for athird day, closing off by 0.23 percent to 107.02 points. The volume oftrades continued low at 21.6 million shares, worth a total of 394.9billion VND (18.8 million USD).

Tien Phong Plastics(NTP) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) were the only leading shares bycapitalisation to post gains on the day.

On the day,the Hanoi Statistics Office announced January inflation data forHanoi , showing a 1.68 per-cent increase over December. HCM Cityinflation data for January showed a more modest 1.01 percent increase./.
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