A group of Hong Kong investors tour the southern stock market as seen in this fi le photo. The State Securities Commission is expected to propose the Government to allow for more active foreign participation in local listed firms - Photo: Kinh Luan
The local market opened the week with another sluggish session on Monday as investors stayed on the sidelines. The VN-Index continued moving sideways, adding 1.45 points, or 0.38%, to close at 379.27 mainly due to late gains of MSN, CTG and PVD.
Volume and value on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange tumbled 52% and 82.7% against the previous session to only 21.9 million shares worth VND324 billion.
The put-through market also returned to its periodic slumber with just one large transaction seen in CII shares.
The market opened in positive territory and quickly hit the daily high of 379.27 points before falling back into the red for the remainder of the morning session. In the afternoon, the index traded in a narrow range before it gained two points to end the day at the highs.
Losers slightly outnumbered gainers at 99 to 88, of which 23 stocks went up to the ceiling prices and 44 others plunged to the floor prices.
Of note, SBT hit the ceiling limit after the company registered an internal transaction with the State Securities Commission, allowing Gia Lai Power Joint Stock Company to buy an additional seven million shares, increasing its total shareholding to 12.84 million shares, or a 9.05% stake. HAG lost ground while speculative issues such as DHM and VPK moved in opposite directions.
Foreigners were quiet after last Friday burst of frenzied activity albeit still net buyers. They accounted for 21% and 13.5% of the market’s buying and selling value respectively.
The Hanoi market also moved flat with 60% of its tickers unchanged although turnover edged up to VND85.2 billion. The HNX-Index lost 0.01 point, or 0.02% and ended the day at 51.04.
There were 75 stocks rising while 56 stocks declined, including 20 stocks hitting the ceiling prices and 22 stocks dropping to the floor prices. Foreigners accounted for 4.4% of the buying value and 4% of the selling value.
Viet Capital Securities Co. (VCSC) noted that at the Vietnam Business Forum, Nguyen Son, head of Market Development Department of the State Securities Commission (SSC), mentioned that the SSC was considering implementing depositary shares (non-voting rights) to allow foreigners to hold more than the actual cap of 49%.
For many years, the Government has been hesitant to increase foreign ownership limits, worried about control by outsiders and unfair competition for local businesses. However, with significant participation by foreign owners in large corporate names such as VNM, ACB, KDC and DHG, these businesses have shown a stronger performance than companies with low or zero foreign ownership.
As such, the change of foreign ownership policy could be a plus for the local market, pushing restructuring and enhancing the efficiency to attract more investors, VCSC said.
The Saigon Times Daily
