On Monday’s session, HCMC’s VN-Index rose by 2.12 percent, or 23.58 points, to 1133.34 and the Hanoi’s HASTC-Index also gained by 2.45 percent, or 10.97 points to close at 459.36.

The HCMC bourse – known as the Asia’s hottest performer at the moment – saw volumes of 8.7 million shares and a turnover of VND1.1 trillion (US$68.7 million). Up north, the Hanoi bourse closed with a trading turnover of VND510 billion ($31.8 million).

Seventy-nine stocks gained and fifteen lost ground in HCMC with PPC (Pha Lai Power Joint Stock Company) leading the market in terms of trading volume, with over 1.3 million shares changing hands – 15.11 percent of the stock exchange.

The runner-up was REE (Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp) with 413,880 shares being traded.

BMC (Binh Dinh Minerals Joint Stock Company) – one among the most wanted penny stocks over the past time – became the big loser yesterday, sliding VND22,000 to VND432,000 per share.

Another small stock SFI (Sea & Air Freight International) lost VND9,000 to close at VND197,000 per unit.

During yesterday’s session, some blue chips stocks stayed put, like IT developer FPT, Petroleum technical services suppliers PVD, and telecoms materials trading company SAM among others.

Nguyen Ho Nam, general director of Sacombank Securities Company, said he saw nothing that in the cards that could destabilize the stock exchange this week.

Making waves

Foreign investors were net sellers yesterday, unleashing 1.9 million shares, an increase of 60 percent over the previous session.

In all of last year, foreign investors pumped between $2 and $3 billion into the local stock exchange.

According to the market regulator, the number of securities accounts of foreign investors registered only 1,700 out of the market’s total 100,000 as of late last year.

However, foreign investors’ securities holdings accounted for 25 – 30 percent of the market.

Local investors are picking up on some of the habits of their foreign counterparts, beginning to invest only in quality stocks, instead of purchasing without conducting research on company performance.

But there are still plenty of local investors who continue to succumb to the ‘herd’ mentality, meaning there is plenty of cash still being pumped into the market.

Source: Thanhnien