A rise in banking and construction shares on Tuesday helped lift the HCM City Stock Exchange out of Monday’s tailspin, carrying the VN-Index to a close of 495.51 points, a gain of 1.72 percent.
Trading value and volume stalled, however, dropped 20 percent from Monday’s session to just under 32.5 million shares, worth a combined VND1.4 trillion (US$76.1 million). Sacombank STB was the most-active share, with over 2 million changing hands.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also advanced by 0.83 percent to end the day at 165.90 points. Meanwhile, the volume of the day’s trades on the northern bourse fell slightly to nearly 19.4 million shares, worth a total of VND660.7 billion ($35 million) – a decline of 10 percent from the previous session’s value.
Kim Long Securities Co (KLS) continued to be the most active share on the northern bourse, responsible for over 3.8 million shares traded.
"Many market-leading shares made a comeback yesterday, particularly banking and construction stocks which benefitted from the State Bank’s lowering of capital reserves ratios," said analysts of FPT Securities Co in their daily report.
The State Bank of Viet Nam on Monday decided to reduce the total compulsory reserve ratio for commercial banks from 7 percent to 4 percent as a measure to improve bank liquidity.
Modest transaction volumes on the nation’s stock markets continued to mirror cautious investor sentiment, said FPT Securities analysts, noting the market needed stronger volumes to maintain a sustained rebound.
"Several sluggish trading sessions over the past few days also reflect investor worries over a possible increase in the prime rate and high inflation," said Bao Viet Securities Company analyst Nguyen Duc Thi. "Market’s movements tend to precede information, so there is unlikely to be any deep corrections, even in the event that the State Bank actually increases the prime rate."
However, Thi advised investors to avoid hasty investment decisions and wait on the announcement of the consumer price index for Ha Noi and HCM City at the end of this month to have a clearer indication of forthcoming monetary policy.
Foreign investors were net sellers by volume of 74,950 shares in HCM City yesterday, but were net buyers by value of VND25.8 billion ($1.4 million). In Ha Noi, they returned to being net buyers, but of a net of just 252,700 shares, worth VND8.7 billion ($462,765).