HANOI: Shares edged up for a second day yesterday on both exchanges despite Wednesday’s decision by the US Federal Reserve to hike its benchmark interest rate. The VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up by 0.12 per cent to close at 665.9 points. The gauge increased 1.6 per cent on Wednesday. On the smaller Hà Nội exchange, the HNX Index added 0.36 per cent to end at 78.9 points, lifting the two-day rally to nearly 1.3 per cent.
The overall market condition was positive with 217 stocks advancing, 195 declining and 283 closing flat. On Wednesday, the US Fed raised its key short-term rate to a range of 0.5-0.75 per cent from 0.25-0.5 per cent. This is the second hike in a decade. “World financial analysts anticipated the move, so domestic investors were prepared,” stock analysts at Vietnam Investment Securities Co wrote in a note. Among large-cap stocks, brewery giant Sabeco (SAB) hit the ceiling of a 7 per cent rise for the eighth consecutive session to VNĐ211,500 (US$9.32) per share, making it the most expensive stock nationwide.
The share has gained 92.3 per cent in value since its stock market debut on December 6, making it the second largest share by market capitalisation on the HCM Stock Exchange after Vinamilk (VNM), valued at over VNĐ135.6 trillion. On the other end of the spectrum, many losers were large-cap stocks such as Vinamilk (VNM), PV Gas (GAS), lender BIDV (BID), real estate developer VinGroup (VIC), Military Bank (MBB) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD).
Foreign investors continued to offload local shares in the HCM City’s market yesterday, for the value of nearly VNĐ26 billion, a strong increase compared to a net value of just VNĐ249 million on Wednesday. In Hà Nội, they extended the net buying run to four days in a row for VNĐ2.2 billion. Trading value increased 11 per cent over Wednesday, totaling over VNĐ3 trillion on the two exchanges, but the market volume decreased 34 per cent to over 170 million shares.
