HCMC – Strong gains of many bank stocks helped the VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange add over 20 points today, December 24, compensating for what it lost yesterday.
With 270 advancers and 191 decliners, the main index rose 20.07 points, or 1.38%, at 1,477.03 points.
The trade volume, however, took nosedive, as 889.48 million shares worth around VND25.4 trillion were transacted on bourse, plummeting 34.6% in volume and 44.16% in value. Of the total, 34.47 million shares valued at some VND1.4 trillion were traded in block deals.
Among bank stocks, HDB, TPB, SHB and EIB closed at their daily ceiling prices, while others also extended their gains.
Specifically, SSB surged 6.7% at VND41,250 with 3.66 million shares changing hands.
Other stocks in the sector with a positive rise included VPB, VIB, TCB, LPB and OCB, which added over 3% each.
In the VN30 basket, only three stocks were traded below their reference prices, including real estate companies PDR and KDH and electricity firm POW, which declined 0.3%, 1.4% and 6.8%, respectively.
Steel and securities stocks also performed well today.
As for steel stocks, HPG expanded 2.4%, NKG jumped 4.9% and HSG picked up 1.7%.
Most of securities stocks were also traded in the green with HCM increasing 1.4%; VND, 1.4%; and FTS, 2.4%.
On the contrary, small and medium stocks faced strong selling pressure and many of them closed at their reference prices, such as LDG, QCG and YEG. In addition, construction firm ROS lost 6.1% and agriculture firm HAG slid 4.7%.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, blue-chip stocks also sent the HNX-Index rising.
The index closed up three points, or 0.68%, at 445.61 points. There were 115.18 million shares worth some VND3 trillion changing hands.
Bank stocks also gained ground with BAB rising 3.2% at VND22,600 and NVB adding 2.1% at VND29,200.
Securities stocks also performed well with SHS, BVS and MBS edging up over 1% each.
In the HNX30 basket, garment firm TNG was the best performer as it shot up 4% after three consecutive losing sessions.
On the other hand, seven stocks in the basket lost steam with rice trader TAR reporting the biggest fall of 4.5%, reaching its lowest level of the day.
Food service provider KLF was the most actively traded stock on the bourse with 9.58 million shares traded.
