Shares extend gains on property, steel stocks

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese markets extended gains and ended higher on Wednesday, thanks largely to sharp rises in property and steel shares.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) increased 0. 二 九 per cent, to finish the trading day at  一, 五0 五. 三 八 points.

The index had increased 0. 二 二 per cent to finish Tuesday at  一, 五00. 九 九 points.

The market breadth was positive as  一 六 一 stocks declined while  二 九 一 rose and  四 五 ended flat.

Nearly  七 九 四. 七 million shares were traded on the southern market, worth VNĐ 二 五. 二 trillion (US$ 一. 一 billion).

The steel stock group attracted a strong injection of cash flow and gained sharply, with giant steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) rising  三. 八 per cent, thereby contributing nearly two points to the increase of the VN-Index.

Compared to the price before the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday, HPG has increased by  一 二 per cent. With the fact that the company has more than  四. 四 七 billion shares listed on the stock market, an increase of  一 二 per cent means HPG's capitalisation has increased by VNĐ 二 二. 八 trillion.

Other steelmakers including Hoa Sen Group (HSG), Nam Kim Group (NKG) and Pomina Steel Corporation (POM) all hit the ceiling prices.

A series of real estate stocks also hit ceiling prices and strongly pushed up the indices, including Licogi  一 四 JSC (L 一 四), C.E.O Group JSC (CEO), Development Investment Construction Corporation (DIG), DRH Holdings JSC (DRH) and FECON CORPORATION (FCN).

On the other side, banking stocks performed poorly as they suffered strong selling forces at the end of the trading session, with losers including Orient Co妹妹ercial Bank (OCB), Asia Co妹妹ercial Bank (ACB), Vietinbank (CTG), Vpbank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB), Sacombank (STB), Vietcombank (VCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and Eximbank (EIB).

Nineteen out of  二 五 sector indices on the market made gains, including wholesale, insurance, securities, IT, retail, healthcare, agriculture, rubber production, food and beverage, seafood production, construction materials, and logistics.

The  三0 biggest stocks tracker, VN 三0-Index, climbed 0. 一 三 per cent to finish at  一, 五 五 二. 四 四 points.

Of the VN 三0 basket,  一 六 stocks increased while  一 四 decreased.

Meanwhile, on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained  一. 五 一 per cent to close at  四 二 四. 一 九 points.

The northern market index had gained 0. 二 二 per cent to close Tuesday at  四 一 七. 八 九 points.

During the session, nearly  六 五 million shares were traded on HNX, worth VNĐ 一. 九 trillion. — VNS