Investor caution slows trading

Stocks continued to climb on December 26 on the HCM City Stock Exchange, propped up by blue chips, but liquidity remained modest due to cautious trading.
Stocks continued to climb on December 26 on the HCM City Stock Exchange, propped up by blue chips, but liquidity remained modest due to cautious trading.

The benchmark VN-Index added another 0.26 percent to close the session at 533.37 points, despite decliners almost tripling advancers.

The recovery of several large-cap stocks such as Vietcombank (VCB), VinGroup (VIC) and Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) supported the market.

Even oil and gas stocks which are being hit by volatile global oil prices made gains yesterday. The largest stock on the market PV Gas (GAS) grew 3.68 percent while PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells Service Corp (PVD) was up 0.8 percent.

Other blue chips declined, however, restraining the market's growth. Losers included Masan Group (MSN), Vinamilk (VNM), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and Vietinbank (CTG).

The VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, sank 0.47 percent to end at 582.45 points.

Liquidity remained modest with 105.3 million shares worth nearly 1.79 trillion VND (83.6 million USD) traded, slightly higher than the previous session.

FLC Group (FLC) was again the most active stock on trading of 7.3 million shares, but it plunged over 4 percent to settle at 9,500 VND.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index retreated in the afternoon after a positive opening, finishing the session unchanged at 81.14 points. The HNX30 ,which tracks the top 30 stocks in terms of market value, also lost 1.78 percent to end at 155.72 points.

Market conditions were negative, with 137 stocks declining, 49 increasing and 174 closing flat.

Liquidity improved with market volume rising 40 percent over Thursday, totalling 68.3 million shares, while trading value jumped 30 percent to 718.2 billion USD (33.6 million USD).

PetroVietnam Construction Corp (PVX) continued to lead trading volume with 11.3 million shares changing hands, but the price dropped 8.9 percent to close at 4,100 VND.

Foreign investors extended their buys yesterday, picking another 134.54 billion VND (6.3 million USD) worth of shares on the two exchanges.

According to analysts, the market trend is still unclear with ups and downs throughout the week. The market will close for four days over the New Year holiday after two more sessions, but statistics show that trading is likely be sluggish.-VNA

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