Investors did not ready to join the market as both demand and offer declined on the southern bourse. Investors bid for 34.4 million shares, decreasing a quarter from the session earlier, while they offered 41.5 million shares, falling 13.2%.
The market’s trading volume was 21.2 million shares worth VND913.7 billion, slightly increasing from the previous session.
In the first matching phase of the day, the market rose 6.19 points with the traded volume of over two million shares. The continuous matching phase witnessed the sluggish trade as almost all stocks moved around their referenced prices, resulting in a rise of only 2.71 points on the index at the end of this phase. The trend was maintained until the end of the day.
Nearly half of the listed stocks gained on the first trading day of the lunar New Year. Large cap stocks were mixed as HPG, VNM, and FPT slightly declined while others such as DPM, VIC, BVH, and HAG closed higher. Sacombank (STB) and Eximbank (EIB) stood still while Vietcombank (VCB) and VietinBank (CTG) rose VND700 and VND900 per share to VND45,200 and VND29,900 respectively.
The market saw 103 stocks rising and 62 others falling, with seven stocks hitting the ceiling prices and seven others dropping to the floor prices. Sacombank (STB) was the most traded stock in terms of volume with 1.84 million shares traded, followed by Saigon Cables and Telecommunication Materials Co. (SAM) with 802,000 shares changing hands.
Foreign investors were net buyers for the fourth consecutive session. They acquired 2.7 million shares worth VND156 billion and sold 2.5 million shares worth VND116 billion, accounting for 12.8% of the market’s buying value and 11.7% of the selling value.
APEC Securities Co. in its report said news on higher gasoline price and the possibility of higher electricity price next month raised concern on high inflation among investors. The February consumer price index (CPI) which will be released this week would impact much on the market in the coming time, it said.
The broker also said the short-term uptrend would stay on technical analysis. The market would likely see a correction on Tuesday but that would be just a technical adjustment.
HCMC Securities Corp. (HSC) said some investors clearly wanted to get the New Year off to a strong start but the overall low level of bids and offers meant that the market failed to catch fire. “News of a hike in petrol prices coupled with expectations that February CPI may have climbed towards 2% or so month-on-month kept investors in check,” it said.
Hanoi’s market inched up 0.94 point to 165.6 on the first trading session. The market’s total trading volume was nine million shares worth VND297.8 billion, rising 12.5% and 17% respectively from the session earlier.
There were 169 stocks rising and 52 others falling. Of which, ten stocks went to the ceiling price while no one dropped to the floor price. Foreigners were net buyers to the tune of VND12.6 billion worth of shares.
