Vietnam’s stocks hit eight-year high

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese shares continued to rise on September 27, driven by large-cap stocks while investor confidence in local companies was bolstered by good prospects of higher quarterly performances.

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The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange added 1.2 percent to close at the fresh eight-year high of 684.89 points. The southern market index has rallied 5.2 percent in the last seven sessions.

The HNX Index on the smaller Hanoi Stock Exchange rebounded 0.5 percent from Monday’s fall to finish at 83.48 points.

“Large-cap stocks remained the major force that pushed the market up,” Bao Viet Securities Corp (BVSC) wrote in its daily report.

Two-thirds of the 30 largest listed firms by market capitalisation and trading liquidity advanced, while there were seven decliners.

The 20 advancing stocks included six of the top 10 companies on the stock market, such as insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), real estate firm Vingroup JSC (VIC), Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV).

BVH jumped 3.5 percent, VIC rose 2.8 percent, VCB was up 2.7 percent, CTG increased by 1.5 percent and BID surged 5.3 percent.

Local energy firms, including PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) had a positive day after crude prices bounced back to close higher on the previous day.

Construction material producers also made good gains, among them stone maker Binh Duong Mineral and Construction JSC (KSB), steel producers Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG), and plastic companies Binh Minh Plastic JSC (BMP) and Tien Phong Plastic JSC (NTP).

Among those stocks, HSG had the lowest growth rate of 0.4 percent, and BMP had the highest – 1.7 percent. “Investor confidence in these companies has been rising on expectations for their higher performances in the last three months,” BIDV Securities Corp said.

More than 168 million shares were exchanged on the two exchanges, worth nearly 3.1 trillion VND (137.5 million USD), a drop of more than 30 percent from September 26.-VNA