Rising petrol prices fail to dampen markets

A surprise hike in retail petrol prices yesterday caused a few ripples on the HCM City Stock Exchange on Tuesday, thanks in a large part to positive trading by foreign investors.

The VN-Index rose 0.47 per cent on the day to end the session at 460.04 points.

Trading remained in the doldrums, however, with only about 28 million shares changing hands, worth a combined total of VND667.6 billion (US$31.8 million).

Decliners outnumbered advancers by 128-77, although a few blue chips helped lift the market overall, including property developer Vincom (VIC), up 4.8 per cent; insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), up 3.4 per cent; PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), up 1 per cent; Eximbank (EIB), up 0.7 per cent; and Masan Group (MSN), up 0.5 per cent.

A HCM City-based broker, Pham Son Thach, said that foreign investors contributed significantly to the recovery of the VN-Index yesterday, buying 2.6 million shares while selling just 854,480 shares on the HCM City market.

“The active buying was attributed to the closing of the net-asset value reporting period tomorrow,” Thach said.

Late on Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance raised the official petrol price by VND2,000 to VND21,300 a litre, blaming the influence of rising world oil prices. The price increase was expected to further fan already highs inflationary pressures, but the market seemed unfazed.

“Some believed that the news had been leaked in advance, sidelining the previous couple of sessions, since we haven’t seen any big washout,” Thach said.

Bottom-catching, meanwhile, was strong enough yesterday to defeat any rise in low-price selling demand, he added.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index fell by 0.5 per cent to close at 91.48 points. Volume remained very low at 30.4 million shares, worth a combined VND444.5 billion ($21.2 million).

Kim Long Securities Co (KLS) was again the nation’s most-active share, with 4.2 million traded.

Woori CBV Securities Co analysts said that the low trading volume was a sign that most investors were still seeking chances to catch the market bottom. As a result, they expected the markets to remain sidelined for the immediate future. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam petrol, Vietnam Petrol prices