Foreign Movers And Shakers Lift Market

By Nguyen Quan Transactions on Vietnam’s stock market during September 1-7 Foreign investors’ active participation since late last month has sent domestic investors’ sentiment soaring. Foreign buyers were also the main motive which spurred both the VN-Index and HNX-Index. In August, foreign players made net buy worth VND856 billion on the Hose, up 51% on July’s VND566 billion. Notably, during the August 31 session, they bought stocks worth VND192 billion, the highest value during the past two months. On Monday, the market retained its upward trend when the VN-Index gained more than eight points. Foreign investors were the movers and shakers behind, making net buy worth more than VND70 billion on the Hose, of which EIB stocks of Vietnam Eximbank alone accounted for VND20 billion. Reports showed that foreign investors had focused mainly on stocks that have a high level of capitalization and play a crucial role in the VN-Index. It was this point that made a breakthrough on the Hose index in recent sessions. As a result, the chain reaction extended to domestic investors who made bold trading decisions instead of standing on the sideline just to wait and see. The six bullish sessions in a row gave an impetus to market liquidity and sent the VN-Index to almost 460 points, which remained the unthinkable just one week earlier. However, analysts reacted prudently, saying that as the market had seen sustainable bullish sessions, corrections of the VN-Index, if any, will be simply usual profit-taking activities. Given the scale of transactions during several recent sessions, the market seemed to signal a strong bullish period in the immediate future. Some analysts contended that the market would continue to go upward, driven by financial leverage in future sessions. What’s more, in this September, business performance results in the third quarter to be announced and the support of NAV stocks by institutional investors will further enhance the purchasing power. Foreign investors’ net buy in August may be possibly repeated in September. Last but not least, latest optimistic economic forecasts for this year—GDP growth of 7.5% and inflation rate of 7%, for instance—is partly indicative of the Government’s determination in economic management, which will considerably lift investors’ sentiment. At the close of the September 7 session, the VN-Index shed 5.41 points to stand at 460.59 points, or 1.16%, with 52.68 million shares traded worth more than VND1.35 trillion. Likewise, on the Hanoi bourse, the HNX-Index lost 1.15 point, or 0.84 point, to stand at 135.65 points with total trading volume in excess of 51.16 million shares, worth almost VND1.3 trillion.