Stocks managed to rally on both of the nation’s stock exchanges on February 22, as authorities rushed to quell rumours of another scandal in the banking industry and a weakening in the domestic currency.

Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) chairman Tran Bac Ha joined officials on February 21 in rejecting whispers that he had been arrested for financial fraud.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index closed up by a modest 0.2 percent to 477.69 points. Advancers edged decliners by 100-65.

The value of trades fell short of the mark set during the previous day’s session, reaching nearly 1.5trillion VND (70 million USD), mostly during morning trading. The volume of trades topped 107.3 million shares.

Blue chips were mixed. Among gainers, steelmaker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) managed to reach its ceiling price. The VN30, which tracks the movements of the 30 leading shares by market capitalisation and liquidity, rose by 0.17 percent to close at 551.33 points.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index closed 1 percent higher at 64.12 points. The value of trades declined by about 15 percent to 938 billion VND, on a volume of 116 million shares.

The HNX30, tracking the northern bourse’s leading stocks, also advanced by 1.3 percent to 126.88 points.
Foreign investors continued as net buyers on both bourses by a combined margin of 69.4 billion VND (3.3 million USD).-VNA