Individual stocks prop up markets, but red still dominates

Hanoi (VNA) - Shares rose slightly on the HCM Stock Exchange on August 19, propped up by some individual stocks, while the red overwhelmed the market as investors increased selling on fears of a downturn.

The VN-Index, the measure of 310 stocks, inched up 0.3 percent to close at 662.3 points. It was up 1 percent for the week.

The market breadth was negative as the losing shares outnumbered the gaining ones by 125 to 97. Nearly half of the 30 biggest stocks by market capitalisation lost value.

Rises of some individual blue chips rescued the market, including private equity firm Masan Group (MSN), PV Gas (GAS) and dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM).

Shares of Masan Group continued to jump 6.3 percent on the day. The shares climbed 6.7 percent on the last settlement.

Masan on August 18 announced it registered to buy back 20 million shares of the company and increased forecast for its 2016 profits by 25 percent to 2.4 trillion VND (108 million USD), up 60 percent year-on-year.

The VN-Index gained a cumulative 5.6 percent in the last two weeks.

Besides Masan, the biggest listed stock, Vinamilk increased 0.9 percent. The shares have gained 3.9 percent in the last three days.

Oil and gas stocks also rallied yesterday, particularly PV Gas, the largest listed oil company, added over 4 percent.

On the smaller exchange in Hanoi, the HNX-Index was down 0.7 percent to end at 83.1.

Liquidity decreased with a total of 147 million shares worth 3.3 trillion VND in the two markets, down 13.5 percent in volume and 4.6 percent in value compared with August 18’s levels.

Foreign investors continued to unload local shares. They sold shares worth a net value of over 281 billion VND on the two national exchanges. They were responsible for a total net sell value of 1.2 trillion VND for the week.-VNA