Manyoil and gas shares hit their ceiling prices, like Petroleum Industrial& Civil Construction (PXI) and Petroleum Pipeline and TankConstruction (PXT) on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange and PetroVietnamNorthern Gas (PVG) and Petroleum Pipeline and Tank Construction (PVE) onthe Hanoi Stock Exchange.
Steady growth of Saigon Securities Inc(SSI) led gains among securities companies. SSI climbed 4.54 percent,while others like HCM Securities (HCM), Bao Viet Securities (BVS),VNDirect Securities (VND), Kim Long Securities and AgriBank Securities(AGR) increased from 1.7-3.7 percent.
The positive mood spreadthrough the whole market, pushing up both stock indices. In HCM City,the VN-Index inched up 0.14 percent to close the session at 605.08points while the VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares with the highestmarket value and liquidity, also increased 0.29 percent to stand at 647points.
The market position was good with 124 codes postinggains, 87 losing and 93 closing unchanged. Meanwhile, the HNX-Index onHanoi's bourse advanced 1.1 percent to end the day at 83.14 points asgainers doubled losers.
Liquidity soared, driven by robust cashinflow. Over 216.6 million shares worth a combined 4.866 trillion VND(230.6 million USD) were traded on the two exchanges by the end of thesession.
Around 15 million shares of dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM),worth over 1.855 trillion VND (88 million USD), were exchanged vianegotiations on August 18, helping lift liquidity. These shares werelikely purchased by F&N Dairy Investment Pte Ltd, as the companyregistered last week to buy 15 million VNM shares.
However, VNM's price fell by 0.86 percent on August 18 to close at 115,000 VND (5.45 USD) per share.
Realestate FLC Group (FLC) continued to be the most active stock nationwideon total trades of nearly 19 million shares. Its price grew 0.8 percentto 13,300 VND (0.63 USD) a share.
Contrasting with domesticinvestors' moves, foreign investors decided to sell out on August 18.They concluded as net sellers on both markets, responsible for acombined net sell of 51 billion VND (2.4 million USD) worth of shares.-VNA