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Stock market
investors yesterday began a new trading week with a flurry of activity that took
the VN-Index to 399.4, an advance of 6.79 points or 1.73 per cent.


Over 7.29 million shares
changed hands, representing a value of VND207.84 billion (US$12.59 million).
However, this value is 33.63 per cent less than trading produced last Friday.


A number of blue chip
stocks closed at their ceiling prices. Viet Nam Dairy Product’s (Vinamilk) VNM
stock, for example, rose by 2.91 per cent to finish at VND106,000. Tan Tao
Industrial Park Corporation (ITA) followed suit, gaining 2.89 per cent to end
the day at VND89,000 per share.


A Kim Long Securities
analyst who wished to remain anonymous said that investors have begun to recover
their faith in the stock market thanks to positive development in the general
economy, such as a lower inflation rate.


"They’re trading in
the stock market because of the positive macroeconomic changes added to rising
share prices," he said.


"However, other
economic factors are still unstable, such as commercial banks’ interest rates,
the petrol price and the price of electronics," the analyst said.


"Such factors mean it’s
not possible to say that the economy or the stock market has entered a period of
sustained recovery."


Sacombank (STB) was the
session’s most actively traded share, with 1.47 million shares traded via
order-matching and direct negotiations between sellers and buyers.


The popularity of STB
shares was put down to the bank winning first prize in the annual financial
reporting awards that were announced last Friday.


Following STB, 399,700
Viet Nam Management Fund (VF1) shares and 299,540 Pha Lai Thermal Power (PPC)
were traded.


"The gains of some
blue chip stocks does not say anything about the future trend of the stock
market. However, I do not think that the VN-Index will drop below the 350 point
mark," the Kim Long Securities analyst said.


About one million shares
were bought by foreign investors and about one million were sold by them.


The HASTC-Index at the Ha
Noi Securities Trading Centre refused to follow HCM City’s lead, falling by
0.01 per cent to 112.67. Nearly 4.73 million shares were traded, equivalent to
VND95.04 billion ($5.76 million).