A recovery in blue chips in the final minutes of Tuesday's session on the HCM City Stock Exchange saved the market from registering another decline, allowing the VN-Index to end the day up marginally at 508.68 points, an increase of 0.24 percent over Monday's close.
Five companies list today in HCM City The Petroleum Equipment Assembly and Metal Structure Company (PXS) will list today on the board of the HCM City Stock Exchange.
The Vung Tau-based company has charter capital of VND200 billion (US$10.5 million) and operates in the areas of designing, manufacturing and installing oil platform jackets and topsides, metal structurres and tanks.
It also builds civil and industrial projects, including ports, and is involved in the real estate business.
The PXS targets this year's net profit at more than VND26 billion. Its reference price stands at VND32,000.
Today, two other HCM City-based companies, the Saigon Beverage&Transportation Company (SBC), will list eight million shares, and the Mekophar Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company (MKP), more than 9.2 million securities.
The reference for SBC is VND27,000 and for MKP, VND78,000.
Meanwhile, the board yesterday received a listing of 20 million shares of the Petroleum Pipeline&Tank Construction Company (PXT) and another 45 million stocks of the hydropower Song Ba Company (SBA).
PXT has set the year's net profit at VND35 billion and SBA at VND20 billion.
The value of trades continued to fall, however, dropping by 18 per cent to VND1.19 trillion (US$62.6 million), on a volume of 37.6 million shares.
Vinamilk (VNM), Hoang Anh Gia Lai Company (HAG), Kinh Bac City Development Share Holding Corporation (KBC), PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), Phu My Fertiliser (DPM) and Tan Tao Investment Industry Corporation (ITA), all picked up value by the end of the session, with ITA closing as the most heavily-traded share on a volume of over 2.5 million traded.
Banking shares all tumbled, on the other hand, with Vietinbank (CTG), Eximbank (EIB) and Sacombank (STB) all seeing a loss of value on the day.
The southern market yesterday welcomed new listings by Petroleum Pipeline and Tank Construction Company (PXT) and Song Ba Company (SBA). PXT shares dropped 20 per cent from their reference price to VND25,600 ($1.35) on a volume of 412,120, while SBA fell 18.75 per cent to VND13,000 ($0.68) on a volume of 311,320 shares.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index opened the new month with a declining session, the HNX-Index dropping by 0.42 per cent to close at 162.91. The volume of the day's trades increased slightly to 31.6 million shares, worth a total of VND1 trillion ($52.6 million), putting the Ha Noi market close to parity with HCM City's in terms of activity on the day.
The northern bourse opened in positive territory but failed to sustain gains as investors turned cautious on the volatile market development. While construction giant Vinaconex (VCG) advanced by 3 per cent during the session, PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) – the most-active share on a volume of 3.5 million – slid by 2.68 per cent. Nine other major codes tumbled.
Yesterday marked the first day of trading for the shares of Vinh Phuc Infrastructure Development Co (IDV), which became the 296th code on the northern board. IDV closed its first day of trades at VND44,200 ($2.33) on a volume of just 5,400 shares.
Financial expert Nguyen Anh Dung noted that institutional investors were preferring high-value shares and predicted blue chips would rebound strongly if investors received good supporting information.
"However, it will be difficult for the market to see a breakthrough in June as supporting news will not be plentiful this month," he added.
Foreign investors continued to be net buyers on both national stock exchanges, responsible for a net buy of more than VND112 billion ($5.9 million) worth of shares. They continued to focus interest on blue chips like Hoang Anh Gia Lai Company (HAG), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and Vietinbank (CTG).