Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Shares extended gains on the HCM Stock Exchange on May 4 butcorrected down on the Hanoi Stock Exchange given stronger profit-takingpressure.
In HCM City, the benchmark VN-Index added 0.34 percent to close at 722.02points. The Index gained over 2 percent in the last five sessions and hasexpanded 8.6 percent this year.
On the Hanoi bourse, the HNX-Index sank for thefirst time in the last four trades, edging down 0.33 percent to end at 89.52points. The northern market index has climbed 11.7 percent since December 30,2016.
Banks continued to be the major support for themarket.
Five of nine listed banks on the two mainexchanges advanced and only two declined.
Sacombank (STB) was the biggest gainer, up 4.3percent, after the bank reported its pre-tax profits increasing 50 percentyear-on-year in the first quarter.
The three largest lenders – BIDV (BID), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vietinbank (CTG)– grew between 1.2-2.3 percent each. Profits of these banks all surpassed 2trillion VND (88 million USD) in the first three months of this year.
Many large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket which tracks the top 30 shares bymarket value and liquidity on the HCM Stock Exchange also advanced oninformation of high dividend payment, such as Vinamilk (VNM), steelmakers HoaPhat Group and Hoa Sen Group (HSG), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and foodproducer Kido Group (KDC).
On the defensive side, some blue chips remainedin a downward cycle including real estate developers VinGroup (VIC) andNovaland Investment Group (NVL), brewery Sabeco (SAB), food producer MasanGroup (MSN), PetroVietnam Drillings and Well Service (PVD) and PetroVietnamTechnical Services (PVS).
“After five straight sessions of rallying, the VN30 Index is approaching thestrong resistance at 685-690, the boundary deciding whether the VN-Indexsurpasses medium-term peak at 720”, stock analyst Tran Duc Anh at Bao VietSecurities Co wrote in the May 4 market report.
Anh maintained a cautious view on market outlookand suggests investors make short-term trading or reduce stock exposure belowthe moderate level.
Trading volume decreased slightly on May 4, totaling nearly 268 million sharesworth a combined 5.2 trillion VND (229 million USD) in the two markets. Thesefigures were still 24.4 percent and 22.4 percent higher than the average dailytrading volume and value of last week.
Foreign investors returned as net buyers in HCM City’s market on May 4 for a modestnet value of 55 billion VND while they extended their net buying streak to foursessions in a row with a net value of 3.8 billion VND, up 160 percent over May3’s value on Hanoi’s exchange.-VNA
