Investors look at screens showing market fluctuations at Tan Viet stock trading floor in Hanoi. (Photo: VNA) Shares continued to rally on September 22 on the country's two exchanges after the Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised its forecast for Vietnam's 2015 economic growth.
The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged higher for a third day to a one-month high of 573.2 points, up 0.2 percent over September 21. The Index has advanced 2 percent in the past three days.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index extended its winning run to five days in a row, adding 0.4 percent to end the session at 78.4 points.
The ADB on September 22 lifted its economic growth forecast to 6.5 percent for 2015 and to 6.6 percent for 2016. In the previous forecasts in March, it expected Vietnam's GDP to expand by 6.1 percent last year and 6.2 percent next year.
Meanwhile, it revised downward growth forecasts for the Asian region to 5.8 percent in 2015 and 6 percent in 2016, below the March forecast of 6.3 percent for both years, due to the economic slowdown in China and India and a slow recovery in major industrial economies.
"The Vietnamese market is still attractive by positive GDP growth, strong consumer demand and FDI inflows," said Nguyen Ngoc Thach, head of brokerage services for individual clients at Saigon Securities Inc. "The short-term adjustment in the domestic market, which was caused by global events, has subsided."
Thach said volatility and unpredictability in the global markets would draw investors to stocks in consumer goods companies, insurers and building material manufacturers whose businesses would likely be more stable thanks to huge market demand.
Growth of large-cap stocks in HCM City continued to support the market as over half of top 30 shares by market value and liquidity climbed.
Dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), the biggest stock by market value of almost 122.5 trillion VND (5.4 billion USD), accounting for over 11 percent of the market weighting, was the biggest gainer with a rise of 3 percent to 102,000 VND (4.53 USD) a share. VNM has risen 5 percent over the last three days.
Liquidity also increased over September 21, totaling over 121 million shares worth 1.84 trillion VND (81.8 million USD), up 11 percent in volume and 8 percent in value. These figures were still lower than August's average of 121.5 million shares and 2.2 trillion VND (97.8 million USD).
The similar figures on the Hanoi's exchange were much smaller, with the market volume reaching just nearly 47 million shares, worth 545 billion VND (24.2 million USD).
Quang Nam Rubber Investment Co (VHG) remained the most active stock nationwide with nearly 8.5 million shares traded but the price dropped 2.4 percent to 8,100 VND a share, ending a four-day rise. The company on September 17 announced a plan of buying back 5 million shares after receiving the nod from the State Securities Commission.-VNA
