The VN-Index closed largely unchanged for a third straight day on Thursday, ending the session at 511.16, while trading volumes improved on the HCM City Stock Exchange.
The total value of the day's trades jumped to VND1.65 trillion (US$86.8 million), 26 per cent over Wednesday's mark, on a volume of 50.67 million shares.
The Index broke easily above 515 in the opening minutes of trading, but weakened transactions afterwards erased early gains, wrote FPT Securities Co analysts in their daily report.
Blue chips such as Vinamilk (VNM), software giant FPT and Ocean Group Co (OGC) continued to rise, with the latter being a surprise yesterday as the most-active share on the HCM City bourse, with a total of nearly 3.3 million changing hands.
But real estate shares generally lost value across the board in the final minutes of yesterday's session, including Tan Tao Investment Industry Company (ITA), Development Investment and Construction Company (DIC), HCM City Infrastructure Investment Company (CII), Kinh Bac City Development Holding Company (KBC) and Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation (TDH). On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rose by 0.75 per cent to close yesterday at 163.36 points. Trading value rose slightly to just over 30 million shares, worth around VND1 trillion ($52.6 million).
Blue chips on the northern bourse also advanced, including shares of construction giant Vinaconex (VCG), Kim Long Securities Company (KLS), Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Bank (SHB) and PetroVietnam Construction (PVX), with PVX continuing to hold the position as most-active share on a volume of 2.5 million.
The current lack of supporting information made the market hard to predict, although the impacts of global markets on the development on the Vietnamese stock exchange was becoming weaker, commented HCM City Securities Company analysts.
Sacombank Securities Company analysts predicted the market would tread water for the first half of this month as it built up demand for another rise. They advised investors to maintain a high proportion of cash for investment opportunities whenever the market underwent corrective sessions, and they discouraged the use of leveraged investments due to the risks in the current market.
Foreign investors concluded yesterday's session as net buyers on the HCM City bourse, picking up a net of over VND49 billion ($2.6 million) worth of shares. They were also net buyers by value on the Ha Noi market of a miniscule VND840 million ($44,214) worth of shares.
Steelmaker lists in HCM City
Steel sheet producer Dai Thien Loc (DTL) lists today on the HCM City Stock Exchange.
The company, which has a charter capital of VND388 billion (US$20 million), will begin trading at a reference price of VND28,000 from which it can be traded at up to 20 per cent on either side.
Located in southern Binh Duong Province's Song Than Industrial Park, DTL has two production lines with a combined annual capacity of 105,000 tonnes and is in the process of increasing to capacity seven-fold by next year.
It has set itself a net profit target of VND250 billion this year, 87 per cent up from 2009. It is expected to pay 30 per cent dividend this year.