Bluechips help VN-Index reach new high

The benchmark index grew 0.3%, or 4.23 points from the previous session. Although declining stocks outnumbered gainers by 244 to 153, the VN-Index expanded as money was poured into bluechips.

The southern bourse saw over 646.5 million shares worth VND21.3 trillion changing hands, falling 8% in both volume and value from the session earlier. More than 37.7 million shares worth some VND1.9 trillion were traded in block deals. 

The biggest contributor was housing developer VHM, which rose 2.68% to VND118,600, contributing 2.7 points to the VN-Index.

Lender VCB rose 1.2% to VND114,000, contributing 1.37 points to the index. This was VCB’s sixth straight winning session.

Other biggest gainers were local budget carrier VJC and tech firm FPT, which increased 3.9% to VND120,000 and 3.4% to VND88,600, respectively.

Lender STB grew 2.65% to VND31,000 and led the southern bourse in terms of liquidity with over 36 million shares changing hands.

Besides VCB and STB, some other bank stocks such as MBB, LPB, EIB and SSB gained ground.

Securities stocks were also good performers, with SSI going up 1.3% to VND54,600 and HCM up 2.9% to VND50,400.

In contrast, many oil and gas stocks lost ground. GAS fell 2.1% to VND93,000 and PLX dropped 1.6% to VND56,200. HPG and BVH lost approximately 1%.

HPG, MBB, TCB, VPB and SSI had good liquidity, with 10-20 million shares changing hands each.

In the group of small and medium stocks, many dipped into the red, including FLC, ROS, PVD, DLG, HSG, FIT, HQC, KBC and ITA.

Furniture company TTF was the second most actively traded stock on the southern market with 27.6 million shares changing hands. However, TTF fell 4.4% to VND7,900 at the close.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched up 0.21% to end at 323.79 points, with declining stocks outnumbering gainers by 127 to 95. There were 132.79 million shares worth some VND3.2 trillion changing hands, increasing 4% in volume and 9% in value compared with the previous session.

Under selling pressure, 20 stocks in the HNX30 basket lost ground. However, heavyweights such as SHB, NVB, SHS, LAS, THD and NRC expanded, helping prevent the HNX-Index from falling.

Specifically, lender SHB rose 1.8% to VND28,500, lender NVB rose 1% to VND19,500, securities company SHS rose 0.5% to VND44,000 and mining enterprise NBC shot up to the ceiling price at VND15,200.

TC6, NBC, TVD, TDN and CTC also shot up to the ceiling prices.

In contrast, most petroleum stocks such as PVS, PVB and PVC performed poorly.

SHB led the northern market in terms of liquidity with 35.4 million shares changing hands.