Stock

Positive sentiment among investors led to the expansion of three consecutive trading sessions by 20 points before the break, leading to the Vn-Index standing at nearly 1,240 on April 29.

The benchmark Vn-Index is forecast to maintain its upward trend after a four-day break [April 30-May 3], however, the recent Covid-19 resurgence in the country is posing risks that the market would enter a correction phase.

Investor at a securities firm in Hanoi. Photo: Viet Linh

Positive sentiment among investors led to the expansion of three consecutive trading sessions by 20 points before the break, leading to the Vn-Index standing at nearly 1,240 on April 29.

The decline of the stock market at the start of last week was merely seen as a technical correction to support long-term growth, noted the Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC) in a note.

BVSC also suggested the fact that the Vn-Index successfully stayed above the 1,200-point supporting zone showed the market is in the accumulation phase before reaching a new height.

“Vn-Index could challenge the resistance zone of 1,268-1,275 in the first week of May, for which the market could subject to minor correction,” said broker Xuan Bach from BVSC.

While the driving force for market rise in the last few trading sessions of April came from stocks of major public firms, KIS Securities Company recommended investors to raise proportion of stock holding from firms in the Vn30 Index, formed by the 30 largest stocks in terms of market capitalization.

Phu Hung Securities Company also gave a similar view by advising investors to look for the most liquid stocks.

In another note, MB Securities Company stated as a number of stocks underwent a correction phase and at attractive value, saying “this is an appropriate time for investors to come in.”

The return of investment capital and positive business results of the first quarters from firms under Vn30 could limit the impacts from “Sell in May and Go Away” adage, referring to an investment strategy for stocks based on the theory that the stock market underperforms in the six-month period between May and October.

Meanwhile, brokerage experts warned investors should take into consideration the current Covid-19 situation before making investment decision, especially as the market witnessed major sell-outs in the previous three outbreaks.

Assuming the market did not have sufficient time to react when the first case was announced on the last day before the break, the market could subject to strong volatility in the next session tomorrow [May 4].

The MoF has just announced a statement on recent congestions on the stock market.

According to the MoF, the major reason leading to the overload and congestion in the last few months lies in the significant increase in demand by market participants. The sudden rush has taken a toll on the old trading infrastructure, while the capacity and readiness of the current system is still limited.

The State Securities Commission (SSC) under the MoF also acknowledged that a brand-new trading system is of utmost importance, so the SSC has requested the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX) and other relevant agencies to speed up the implementation of a new trading platform.

Moreover, a solid trading infrastructure with support from the Korean Exchange was to be adopted in late 2020, but the health crisis has kept experts from the Korean Exchange from entering Vietnam on schedule.

While waiting for the new system, the MoF has assigned FPT – the local IT giant – to develop an alternative system to host HSX transactions.

This plan is being implemented urgently. The MoF believes the new system would alleviate congestions and technical issues on HSX.

Previously, Le Hai Tra, CEO of HSX, suggested an increase to the board lot size from 100 to 1,000 shares in a bid to solve trade congestions.

“Investors can negotiate with securities companies to sell odd-lot shares. Currently, the MoF has not had a plan to raise trading lots,” the MoF noted.

According to Bao Viet Securities (BVSC), raising the minimum trading slots is a counter-trend movement against the global trend, as many stock exchanges in other countries are trying to reduce the trading slots. For example, the Singapore Stock Exchange reduced the board lot size from 1,000 to 100 in 2015, and its Tokyo counterpart also reduced it by the same amount in 2018.

Nonetheless, assuming a new trading system is not yet ready to be implemented, an increase in the size of board lots could keep the trading system from collapsing and failing trades – both obvious negatives when it comes to trying to promote Vietnam to an emerging market from a frontier market by both the FTSE and MSCI, BVSC noted.

The MoF is looking forward to receiving support from retail and institutional investors to a create sustainably operating domestic stock market.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 1.15 per cent, or 14.23 points, to finish the trading day at 1,256.43 points. The market breadth was still positive as 330 stocks rose while 93 fell and 33 stocks ended flat.

The southern market index had gained 0.23 per cent to closed Tuesday at 1,242.2 points.

The market liquidity was higher than yesterday with nearly 744.4 million shares traded on the southern market, worth VND21.2 trillion (US$915 million).

The index was boosted by large-cap stocks, mainly in the banking sector. The 30 large-cap stocks tracker VN30-index increased 1.42 per cent to 1,346.89 points. Twenty-five of the 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket increased Wednesday while four stocks decreased.

Many big bank stocks posted great performance yesterday with Techcombank (TCB) and HDBank (HDB) leading the gains, up 7 per cent. Military Bank (MBB), Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB), Vietcombank (VCB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) all jumped.

Some other individual large-caps also made gains such as PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX) and SSI Securities Co (SSI), all up more than 2 per cent.

In a daily report to investors, BIDV Securities Co said: “The VN-Index increased gradually from the beginning of the morning session to the end of the afternoon session and is now back above the 1,255 points threshold.”

“Investment cash flow increased while foreign investors were net sellers on HoSE and net buyers on HNX. In addition, market breadth turned to a positive status with the liquidity not much different from the previous session.

“In our opinion, the VN-Index may face short-term profit-taking pressure at 1,260-1,280 points as this is the index’s historic peak area,” it said.

Foreign investors net sold VND779.63 billion on HOSE, including Hoa Phat Group (HPG) (VND190.8 billion), Vincom Retail (VRE) (VND187.9 billion) and Vietinbank (CTG) (VND172.8 billion). They were net buyers on the HNX with a value of VND15.51 billion.

Meanwhile, on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 1.16 per cent to 280.93 points. The HNX30-Index gained 2.43 per cent to 423.17 points.

The northern market index had fallen 1.43 per cent to close Tuesday at 277.71 points.

During the session, over 134.8 million shares were traded on HNX, worth nearly VND2.8 trillion. — VNS

Liquidity of the southern stock market in April stood at the highest level from the outset of the year. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Liquidity of the southern stock market in April stood at the highest level from the outset of the year, with more than 14.51 billion stocks traded at a value of over 366.94 trillion VND (15.94 billion USD), according to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE).

Average transaction value per session was over 18.34 trillion VND, up 18.68 percent from March, and 47.41 percent from the same time last year.

HOSE also said that trading of covered warrants (CWs) – Vietnam’s third securities product after stocks and futures also heated up in the month, with over 506.38 million items sold at the value of 2.32 trillion VND.

The market also saw the benchmark VN-Index set a 20-year record high of 1,268.28 points on April 20, with total value of market transaction on the day topping 22.46 trillion VND.

The index in April edged up 4.02 percent from the previous month to end at 1,239.39 points, and surged 12.28 percent year-on-year.

Material, finance and real estate stocks performed well in the month, with VNMAT stocks rising 16.2 percent, VNFIN surging 10.55 percent and VNREAL up 10.47 percent.

Meanwhile, energy, utility, and consumer goods stocks suffered the respective declines of 10.03 percent, 5.04 percent, and 2.95 percent.

The net sales of foreign investors fell 93.87 percent from March to 751 billion VND.

HOSE saw no newly-listed stocks in the month, while five codes of LAF, TVB, PAN, BSI and ASG moved to the Hanoi Stock Exchange.

As of April 29, 511 security codes were being trade on HOSE, including 391 stocks, three close fund certificates, seven exchange traded funds (ETF), 79 CWs, and 31 bonds.

The stock market capitalisation on HOSE reached more than 4.46 quadrillion VND, increasing 4.12 percent from March, and accounting for around 73.87 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2020./.