Market stalls on stagnant trades

October 23, 2010 | 12:42

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Hanoi - The VN-Index closed essentially unchanged yesterday at 445.21 points, while the value of trades on the HCM City Stock Exchange sank to just VND662.9 billion ($34 million), on a volume of 27.5 million shares.

A few major shares managed to advance, including insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and real estate developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), which closed up around 1 per cent each, and developer Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), each up about 0.5 per cent, largely due to buys by foreign investors.

"Foreign investors seem to be the sole support for the markets currently, when domestic investors are staying out," said Ha Noi-based broker Nguyen Thanh Phong. Foreign investors bought a net of 1.6 million shares yesterday on the HCM City market.

Meanwhile, Phong noted, local investors had turned to other investment channels, such as trading in gold or US dollars, which seemed to promise stronger profits.

The stock market slowdown had been exacerbated by regulators who had not allowed the introduction of new tools to promote the circulation of capital on the stock markets, he said.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index lost 1.09 per cent of its value to close at 111.32 points. Up to 213 out of 345 listed stocks on the northern market posted declines, including traditional market leaders PetroVietnam Insurance (PVI), down 2.3 per cent, and Kim Long Securities Co (KLS), down 1.6 per cent.

The value of trades slowed to just VND414.8 billion ($21.3 million) on a volume of 20.9 million shares, a decline of 15.7 per cent from Thursday's volume.

VNS

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