HANOI: Vietnamese shares rose for a second day, boosted by positive company news for individual stocks. The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 0.8 per cent to close at 572.55 points and the HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange gained slightly by 0.3 per cent to end at 79.16 points. The southern index has gained 1.8 per cent and the northern index has risen 0.5 per cent in the past two days.
Among stocks that improved on positive news, furniture maker Duc Long Gia Lai Group Joint Stock Company (DLG) was the most actively traded stock for a second day and surged 6.1 per cent after the company denied a rumour saying its leaders were being investigated by Government agencies. This negative rumour had made the stock decline by 27.5 per cent since the beginning of this month.
Meanwhile, Cotec Construction Joint Stock Company (CTD) jumped 3.3 per cent after the company issued more than 3.6 million shares for shareholders of construction firm Unicons to complete its acquisition of this company.
In addition, Vinacafe Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company (VCF) gained 1.4 per cent on investor expectations State-owned Vinacafe Corp sold its entire stake, or 12.6 per cent of VCF’s outstanding float, yesterday. Vinacafe Corp had said in October that it planned to sell its VCF stake. Vinacafe is believed to have earned more than VND522 billion (US$2.3 million) from this deal. Neither company has confirmed the sale.
The stock market was also lifted by energy stocks, whose index inched up 0.3 per cent following a rise in the US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI).
WTI crude gained 2.9 per cent to trade at $37.35 a barrel, however, crude backed down 0.8 per cent yesterday to trade at $37.07 in Asian trading. Among advancing energy stocks, PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (GAS) was up 0.8 per cent and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) rose 0.6 per cent.
Other big stocks that also boosted the market included Vinamilk (VNM), which gained 1.6 per cent, the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID), which jumped 3 per cent, and Vietinbank (CTG), which rose 1.7 per cent.
Both local trading floors exchanged nearly 166 million shares worth VND3 trillion ($137.6 million), an increase of 16.6 per cent from Tuesday’s trading value.
