Vinamilk production line. (Photo: VNA)Shares rose for a third day on October 19 after dairy producer Vinamilk said it will seek to sell its controlling government stake to foreign investors.
On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index increased 0.3 percent to close the session at 594.6 points. It has risen almost 1 percent in the last three sessions.
Shares of dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM) surged 4.7 percent to a record high of 111,000 VND (4.96 USD) a share, the highest since the company debuted on the HCM City's exchange in 2006. It was the biggest driver of the VN-Index on October 19 with a market weighting of 11.6 percent.
The jump came after international media reported the company was willing to allow foreign investors to own up to 100 percent of the firm if the government allows it. Foreign investment in the company is currently capped at 49 percent by law.
Last week, the State Capital Investment Corporation, a government investment arm, revealed its intention to divest its entire 45.1-percent stake in Vinamilk, which was worth 2.7 billion USD on October 19.
The overall market is positive as most important stock groups, such as real estate, construction, securities were performing well, said Nguyen Quoc Truong, an analyst at BIDV Securities Co.
"The ability to break the 600-point level could occur in the near future," Truong wrote in a report.
Seven of the top 10 most active stocks in the HCM City's market were real estate companies. Duc Long Gia Lai Group (DLG) was the most active, rising 6.8 percent to close at 7,900 VND (0.35 USD) a share on October 19.
Overall liquidity decreased from October 16 level with both market volume and value dropping around 20 percent to about 108 million shares worth 1.87 trillion VND (83.5 million USD). These figures were also lower than the average of 139.5 million shares and 2.4 trillion VND (107 million USD) seen in October.
The HNX-Index on the smaller bourse in Hanoi also edged up 0.2 percent to close at 81.35 points, extending the winning run to four days in a row with a cumulative rise of nearly 1 percent.-VNA
