Mixed Xmas bag for Vietnam’s shares

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares were mixed on the two local exchanges on December 25. Gainers were led by the food and beverage sector.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose slightly by 0.3 percent to close at 567.67 points after a drop of 2.2 percent during the previous four days.

The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange inched down 0.3 percent to end at 78.09 points, pulling back from a small gain on the previous day.

The food and beverage index was up 0.9 percent, led by Masan Group (MSN) as the stock surged 6.4 percent after Masan sold a part of its stakes in two subsidiaries - a quarter of Masan Consumer Holdings and one-third of Masan Brewery - to Thailand-based Singha Beer International for 1.1 billion USD.

Buying by foreign investors boosted some big stocks such as property developer Vingroup JSC, Vietcombank, Sacombank and insurer Bao Viet Holdings.

Vingroup JSC (VIC) was up 1 percent, Vietcombank (VCB) gained 0.7 percent, Sacombank (STB) rose 0.9 percent and Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) increased by 1.9 percent.

On the negative side, the energy sector index dropped 0.9 percent as investors took profits after these stocks had made recent gains on higher global oil prices.

The US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on Thursday gained 1.6 percent to trade at 38.10 USD a barrel. WTI crude had jumped 9.7 percent in the past four days.

Energy stocks that dropped were PetroVietnam Drilling and Services Corporation (PVD), PetroVietnam Mud Drilling Corporation (PVC) and PetroVietnam Coating Corporation (PVB).

PVD fell 2.1 percent after it had gained 6.9 percent during the previous four days, PVC was down 0.6 percent after the stock had risen 4.4 percent and PVB dropped 3.4 percent after having increased by 10 percent in the previous three days.

Other big stocks such as Vinamilk and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) also contributed to the negative trend of the market. Vinamilk (VNM) was lost 0.8 percent and BIDV (BID) declined by 0.5 percent.

The two local exchanges traded more than 159 million shares worth 2.1 trillion VND (93.7 million USD), an increase of 25 percent from the previous day's trading value.-VNA