Vietnam’s shares continue rally on TPP deal optimism

Shares in Vietnam's two stock markets continued to rally on October 6 after 12 Pacific Rim countries reached an historic agreement which will liberalise commerce in 40 percent of the world's economy.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange rose for a second day, adding another 2 percent to close the session at 581.3 points. In Hanoi, the HNX-Index also gained 2.1 percent to end the day at 80.5 points, extending its winning steak to five sessions.

"This is the good news investors were waiting for that gave a boost to the market," said Tran Minh Hoang, head of the analysis department at Vietcombank Securities Co.

Hoang said that not only should Vietnamese export companies benefit from the agreement but support industries such as banking, construction and logistics sectors would also be gainers.

TPP, which would cut trade barriers among participating nations, is expected to expand Vietnam's GDP by 33.5 billion USD and lift its exports by 68 billion USD by 2025, said Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang after the pact's conclusion.

He said Vietnam's key export products like textile, garment, footwear and seafood would gain breakthroughs in export value to big markets such as the United States, Japan and Canada.

Seafood exporter Hung Vuong Corp (HVG) hit the daily increase ceiling of 7 percent in the HCM City market while apparel maker Mirae (KMR) jumped 6.3 percent. Companies such as Thanh Cong Textile Garment Investment Trading (TCM) and TNG Investment and Trading (TNG) saw gains of 6 to 7 percent in the morning fall to 1 to 2 percent in the afternoon due to profit-taking.

Big banks like Vietcombank (VCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and logistic Gemadept (GMD) also climbed 2 to 4 percent each.

The trade agreement must still be approved by the legislatures of each participating nation before being implemented.

"The market will likely have only a small rise in October since this agreement needs more time for the 12 nations to ratify it and for it to take full effect," said Bui Nguyen Khoa, an analyst at BIDV Securities Co.

Overall market conditions were positive with nearly 50 percent of 674 trading stocks advanced while only 17 percent declined.

Liquidity also went up in the two markets.

In the southern bourse, more than 179 million shares worth over 3 trillion VND (133 million USD) were traded, up 81 percent in volume and 72 percent in value compared with the previous session's levels. These figures were also much higher than the daily average of over 93 million shares and 1.5 trillion VND (67 million USD) seen in September.

In the Hanoi's market, the market volume also increased 48 percent over the previous day, totaling 60.5 million shares while the value of trades jumped over 50 percent to reach 652.2 billion VND (29 million USD).-VNA