Shares stall on European Union jitters

Shares tread water on the HCM Stock Exchange on May 25 on modest trading, with the VN-Index closing essentially unchanged at 486.05 points. The total value of the day's trades reached only 1.36 trillion VND (71.6 million USD) on a volume of 43.4 million shares.
Shares tread water on the HCM Stock Exchange on May 25 on modest trading, with the VN-Index closing essentially unchanged at 486.05 points. The total value of the day's trades reached only 1.36 trillion VND (71.6 million USD) on a volume of 43.4 million shares.

Vietnam Electrical Construction (VNE) was the most-active share on the day, with 2.5 million traded.

Au Viet Securities Co analysts pointed to the overnight decline of the Dow Jones on Monday, saying that concerns over the EU debt crisis remained a major influence on securities transactions, despite Monday's modest rebound on the domestic markets.

Nguyen Ha Nam , the head of the brokerage department for a HCM City-based securities company, did not expect the EU crisis to have the same impact as the 2008 financial crisis.

"The impact on our economy would be on the trade deficit and FDI flows, but I don't see any such impacts as the EU is doing a good job trying to stem the crisis," Nam said, noting recent net buys by foreign investors on the local markets. Foreigners bought a net of 3.8 million shares on both national stock exchanges on May 25, valued at a net of 165.2 billion VND (8.7 million USD).

Investors should keep an eye on the moves of major stocks in the coming days to confirm the market trend, Nam suggested, noting that blue chips seemed to be luring money back over the past several days, a developing trend which would be a good sign for the domestic market.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange on May 25, the HNX-Index also closed off only neglibibly, at 155.90 points, despite the advances of such shares as civil engineering giant Vinaconex (VCG), up 2.53 percent, Kim Long Securities Co (KLS), up 2.79 percent, and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS), up 0.65 percent.

Trading value fell below 1 trillion VND to just over 925 billion VND (48.7 million USD), on a volume of 32.4 million shares.

PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) was the most-active share on the northern bourse, with 5.12 million changing hands./.

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