Market moves sideways again
By Phuong Thao - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – As investors remained concerned over the macro economy, the local market closed almost flat again on Wednesday while liquidity soared on jumbo put-through transactions. The VN-Index had its fourth consecutive loss, falling a slight 0.55 point, or 0.13%, against the previous day to close at 427.61.
The market opened the day in positive territory but fell off quickly and hit the daily low of 424.86 in late morning before staging a sharp recovery to end the morning session in the black. In the afternoon, it saw a further lift before renewed selling pressure pushed the index down a little to end just in negative territory.
Liquidity on the southern bourse surged 47% in volume and 72% in value to 84.1 million shares worth over VND1.4 trillion thanks to 20 million EIB shares and 14.8 million STB shares traded in the put-through session.
Laggards outnumbered advancers by 132 to 96, of which 30 went limit-down. Heavyweights MSN, VCB, GAS, and OGC together contributed only 0.89 point to the index while STB, BVH, PVF, and MPC removed 1.18 points.
Sacombank (STB), which plunged to the floor price of VND23,300, was the most active stock in terms of volume with 4.7 million shares traded worth VND113 billion. Of which, 3.5 million shares were sold by foreign investors.
Foreigners remained active net buyers overall, accounting for 6.4% and 12% of the market’s buying and selling value respectively.
The Hanoi market advanced a little while turnover shrank to VND393 billion. The HN-Index gained 0.16 point, or 0.21%, against the session earlier and ended the day at 74.76.
The number of rising stocks was equal to that of losing ones at 102 to 100, including 19 stocks going up to the ceiling prices and 23 stocks dropping to the floor prices. Foreigners accounted for 9.3% of the buying value and 3.9% of the selling value.
HCMC Securities Co. said the markets have reached an interesting point with a steady increase in observable margin positions over the last week and a half, suggesting renewed retail interest even as foreigners remain net sellers.
“The economy has yet to show signs of recovery, so the more bullish technical outlook must be considered in conjunction with a still stagnant fundamental outlook. What we are seeing is the formation of a sustainable medium-term bottom with some upside potential. A major new rally will have to wait until the fabled green shoots of recovery begin to appear. So cautious buying at current levels without chasing up prices would seem a reasonable strategy from our point of view,” it said.