Stocks up despite petrol price hike

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index added 5.74 points, or as much as 0.96 per cent, to close yesterday at 605.59 points, as it recovered from Tuesday's loss.—File Photo

The petrol price hike was expected to have a negative impact on the stock market during the afternoon trade. However, the market moved against expectations due to significant capital inflows and firm investor confidence.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index added 5.74 points, or as much as 0.96 per cent, to close yesterday at 605.59 points, as it recovered from Tuesday's loss.

A total of more than 192 million shares changed hands yesterday with the total trading value reaching VND3.2 trillion (US$152.3 million).

With gainers overwhelming losers by 19-4, the VN30-Index, tracking the southern city's 30 largest shares by capitalisation and liquidity, gained 1.23 per cent to end the day at 681.94 points.

The Tan Tao Group (ITA) was the pick of the investors yesterday as more than 18.5 million of its shares changed hands and led the bourse in terms of liquidity.

Shares of ITA increased by VND600 (US$0.028) per share to its ceiling price of VND9,500 (US$0.45) after the news that the group was working with a French electricity group on the Kien Luong 1 Thermoelectric Plant project.

Banking stocks were also active yesterday after the State Bank of Viet Nam amended the Circular 02 about bad debt. Vietinbank (CTB), Eximbank (EIB), Military Bank (MBB), Sacombank (STB), and Vietcombank (VCB) all closed in the black.

Other big gainers included FPT Group (FPT), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG), and Ocean Group (OCG).

Those gains pushed the benchmark indices to close higher, while the shares of PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution (PGD), PetroVietnam Transportation (PVT), Ree Corporation (REE), and Vinamilk (VNM) dropped.

Overall, 183 codes on the southern bourse gained, while 55 codes lost values.

On the Ha Noi Exchange, the HNX-Index posted a gain of 2.38 per cent to end at 89.68 points and the HNXFF-Index closed at 90.38 points, with an apparent rise of nearly 2.95 per cent.

Liquidity was at a high level as the total trading value reached VND1.4 trillion (US$66.7 million) and nearly 130 million shares were traded.

The HNX30-Index, tracking the top 30 stocks, advanced 3.73 per cent to finish at 183.97 points.

A record of more than 31.4 million shares of the Sai Gon–Ha Noi Bank (SHB) successfully changed hands yesterday, the highest recorded level for a stock to be traded in a single trading session.