Shares rose more strongly in the afternoon session of March 20, driven by inflows from foreign investors.

March 20 was the last day for the Market Vectors Vietnam (VNM) exchange-traded fund to conclude its portfolio review. The two newly added shares in its portfolio, Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corp (KBC) and confectionery Kinh Do Corp (KBC), were the most heavily traded codes in foreign trading.

The foreign sector turned heads to be net sellers on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange. They picked up shares worth more than 213 billion VND (nearly 10 million USD), an impressive improvement compared with the net sell value of nearly 222 billion VND (10.4 million USD) seen on the previous day.

In HCM City, the benchmark VN-Index edged up 0.3 percent to close at 575.44 points, while the VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, gained 0.41 percent to stand at 603.76 points.

Increased trading by foreign investors also pushed up liquidity. The market volume climbed 80 percent over March 19, totaling 151.5 million shares, while the trading value more than doubled the value to reach 3.15 billion VND (147.2 million USD).

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also added 0.63 percent to close at 85.13 points, thanks to gains of blue chips like Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), Sai Gon Thuong Tin Real Estate Co (SCR), Vinaconex (VCG), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and KLF Joint Venture Global Investment Co (KLF).

Overall trading declined, however, as the market volume dropped 20 percent from the previous session to reach 37 million shares, while the value of trades decreased 10 percent to 524.4 billion VND (24.5 million USD).

KLF was the most active stock here, trading 4.6 million shares and rising 1.85 percent to finish at 11,000 VND a share.
The foreign sectors also concluded the day as net buyers in Hanoi, responsible for a net buy of nearly 28 billion VND (1.3 million USD).-VNA