On the HCMStock Exchange, the VN-Index edged up 0.33 percent to close at 773.57 points.The key southern market index went down 0.66 percent on August 15.
On the HanoiStock Exchange, the HNX-Index picked up 0.44 percent to end at 101.74 points.It inched down 0.2 percent in the previous session.
Capitalflows on August 17 focused on the steel, fertiliser and construction sectors.
The twobiggest listed steelmakers – Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG) –increased 2.2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively. Other small steel firmssuch as Nam Kim Steel (NKG), Vietnam-Italy Steel (VIS) and Tien Len Steel (TLH)rose between 0.4 percent and 1.4 percent each.
Bigcompanies in the fertiliser and construction industries such as PetroVietnamFertiliser and Chemicals (DPM), Ca Mau Fertiliser (DCM), FLC Faros Construction(ROS) and Coteccons Construction (CTD) also rallied.
Otherlarge-cap stocks supporting the market included PV Gas (GAS), Masan Group(MSN), brewery Sabeco (SAB), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Mobile WorldGroup (MWG).
On thenegative side, banks weighed the market down. Losers included BIDV (BID),Vietinbank (CTG) and Military Bank (MBB), three of the four largest listedlenders by market value.
According toFPT Securities Company, unexpected movements of several heavyweight stocksrecently have impacted on forecasts of market trends.
“Obviously,the upswing of large-cap stocks is causing confusion, increasing the risk of abulltrap,” market analysts at FPT Securities Co wrote in a note.
The VN30,which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on themain bourse in HCM City, continued to rise higher than the benchmark VN-Index.It was up 0.44 percent on August 16 to close at 749.37 points.
Liquidityimproved on August 16 with nearly 212 million shares worth 3.64 trillion VND (160.4million USD) traded in the two markets, up 6.3 percent in volume and 4 percentin value compared to August 15.
These levelshowever were still much lower than the average of more than 300 million shareswith value of 4.7 trillion VND traded per session last week.
Foreign investorsreturned as net buyers on the HCM City’s exchange for a modest value of 27.5billion VND but they extended their net selling streak in Hanoi’s market forsix straight sessions with August 16’s value of more than 6.4 billion VND.-VNA