Sept 30: VN Index edges up on bargain hunting, lower interest rate hopes

Vietnamese stocks managed to close in the positive territory today as local bargain hunters jumped in seeking for good deals as some stock prices have come back to their attractive levels and on hopes of banks to lower interest rates.

The benchmark VN Index added 1.58 points or 0.34% to 454.52. Volume rose to 40.63 million shares traded for VND1.2 trillion compared with 33.19 million shares traded for VND897 billion on Wednesday.

It should be noted that put-through trading, which is now conducted throughout the trading time, was very active with 8.4 million shares traded. There was one jumbo deal where 5.61 million PGD shares changed hands and big size deal where 0.5 million EIB shares traded. Most of the block deals were traded higher than the market prices.

For September, the VN Index closed almost flat, down 0.56 point but there was improvement in liquidity with a daily average trading volume of 45.36 million shares. In August, the benchmark lost 38.83 points or 7.86% with daily trading volume of 41 million shares.

Local media today spends a great coverage on the call for lower interest rates from local experts. Analysts said whether or not the market could rally in the fourth quarter depends much on the rate cut efforts.

The Vietnam Banks Association said some local banks have pledged to cut deposit interest rates to 11% from October 15 against the current rate of 11.2%.

The market opened in the red with only 0.72 million shares traded at the ATO as buyers were cautious. The trading was still slow in the early continuous trading session, and the market was still in the negative territory at the end of this session. 7.6 million shares sold at the ATC session, however, were successfully buoyed the market.

In an alternative investment option, local gold prices eased after setting all time high of VND31.35 million/tael yesterday. Gold profit takers are expected to enter the equities soon on attractive valuation.

Market breath was positive where losers outpaced gainers by 140 to 67 and 58 unchanged stocks. As many as 6 stocks hit the upper daily limits of 5% while 9 others fell to the floor of -5%.

OGC was the most active stock with 1.82 million shares traded, slipped 1.86% to VND31,600.

GTT ranked second in the list with 0.85 million shares traded, adding 4.55% to VND11,500.

STB was in the third place with 0.81 million shares traded, adding 1.21% to VND16,700.

ITA and SSI followed with 0.80 million shares and 0.67 million shares traded, respectively.

Today foreign players had the biggest single day buying on HoSE in one month of VND136.26 billion of Vietnamese shares for. They purchased 5,497,620 shares for VND190.26 billion and sold 1,853,840 shares for VND54.00 billion accounting for 15.74% buying value and 4.47% selling value.

These players continued to support the local market since the beginning of this year and their net buying year to date was VND8,614 billion.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX extended losses today as investors were still cautious to buy shares. The index level failed to test 130 threshold. The HNX fell 0.12 point or 0.09% to 127.29. For the month, HNX index lost 1.11 points or 0.86% with average trading volume of 39.03 million shares.

Today volume and value fell near 1-month low to 26.31 million shares traded worth VND842 billion compared with 33.54 million shares traded for VND842 billion on September 28.

For September, the HNX lost 1.11 points or 0.86% but liquidity inproved to daily average volume of 38.7 million shares. In August, the gauge lost 24,93 points or 16.26% with daily average volume of 30.91 million shares.

The market recorded 78 gainers, 200 losers and 60 unchanged stocks including 13 ceiling gainers and 17 floor losers. On this bourse, daily trading limit is capped at 7% each side.

KLS was the most active stocks on the bourse with 2.27 million shares traded, falling 1.96% to VND15,000.

PVX ranked second in the list with 1.97 million shares traded, dropping 0.85% to VND23,200.

VCG was in the third place with 1.03 million shares traded, losing 1.91% to VND25,700. This share lost.

Foreigners kept net buying of VND0.34 billion of Vietnamese shares, extending their net buying string for 7 straight days of VND21.78 billion on the HNX. Their net buying totaled VND22.44 billion for the month – Stoxplus.com

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