Trading turned tepid on Wednesday as seen in a sharp fall in liquidity, which hit a five-month low of only VND337 billion on the southern bourse though the index did inch up owing to rallies in a large number of large caps.
The local market made a mild recovery after a two-day losing streak, adding a slight 1.89 points, or 0.47%, against the previous day to close at 407.28 on the VN-Index.
The market opened in negative territory but it immediately climbed several points into the black and rose steadily to hit the daily high of 408.21 before losing half of the gains by the end of the morning session. In the afternoon, trading saw the index climb once again before closing just under a point below the highs.
As investors were extremely cautious, trading on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange dropped 20.8% in volume and 29% in value to 22.8 million shares worth VND337 billion. Sacombank (STB) was the most active stock in terms of both volume and value with 1.25 million shares worth VND27.8 billion changing hands.
Advancers far overwhelmed laggards by 136 to 60, of which 34 tickers hit the ceiling prices. Heavyweights GAS, VCB, VNM, and HAG together contributed 1.03 points to the index while VIC alone removed 0.47 point.
Foreign activity was insignificant while they remained active net sellers, accounting for 6% and 13.6% of the market’s buying and selling value respectively.
The Hanoi market also bounced back with turnover slipping to VND196 billion. The HNX-index rose 0.7 point, or 1.03%, from the session earlier and ended the day at 68.59.
There were 157 stocks advancing while 68 stocks declined, of which 32 stocks went to the ceiling prices and 18 stocks dropped to the floor prices. Foreigners accounted for 5.5% of the buying value and 0.2% of the selling value.
HCMC Securities Corp. (HSC) said on Wednesday’s move reflected the fact that in a low volume market, a very small incremental difference in the buy-sell balance can lead to a mini rally or correction. Buyers were just slightly more active perhaps with the market seen as close enough to the 400-point level in the VN-Index to excite some bargain hunting.
“However, with turnover this low, daily market movements carry little weight and hence we cannot draw any conclusions except to say that the primary trend looks to be sideways and down for the time being. Even so medium-term players can start to buy gradually from now in our opinion,” HSC said.
Viet Capital Securities Co. said with strong resistance at 417 and 70.6 points, trading could remain fairly weak and range-bound for the next few days. However, it could be a good opportunity to start accumulating blue-chips ahead of earnings releases.
The Saigon Times Daily
