Vietnam shares ease off two days of losses

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, 178 stocks gained and 113 others fell. The VN-Index of this southern bourse advanced 0.25% against the day earlier at 986.91 points. There were 165.3 million shares worth VND3.3 trillion traded, down over 23% in both volume and value against Wednesday. Block deals amounted to 33.32 million shares valued at more than VND685 billion.

Lender EIB closed up a slight 0.29% at VND17,450 per share, with 6.28 million shares changing hands, while food firm GTN closed unchanged at VND16,500 with matching volume of 11.34 million shares.

Other bank stocks also drove up the southern bourse. Lender VCB improved 0.7% at VND67,700, with trading volume totaling 948,960 shares, while its fellow HDB rose 3.4% at VND29,200. CTG increased 0.9% at VND22,000 and MBB edged up 0.7% at VND22,650.

Housing developer VHM and retailer VRE got back to their reference prices at the end of the day while property group VIC inched up slightly.

Brewery firm SAB added 1.2% at VND249,820 while tech firm FPT continued its upward spiral and closed at VND47,800, up 1.3% with 1.76 million shares transacted.

Having announced its 2019 plan with a profit growth forecast of 23% and a sale of an extra 55.7 million shares to the current shareholders and over two million employee stock ownership plan shares, jewelry firm PNJ ended up 2% at the highest daily level of VND101,000. Its matching volume amounted to 508,480 shares, the highest in 20 sessions.

Entertainment firm YEG jumped a hefty 6.92% to VND117,500, the second straight day of hitting the upper limit, after Yeah1 was given a two-week content storage right on YouTube. Its 148,000 shares were matched.

Meanwhile, construction firm ROS bucked the trend, closing down 0.6% at VND31,500. However, ROS was the most actively traded stock on the southern bourse with volume reaching 7.6 million shares.

Shares on the Hanoi exchange rallied. The HNX-Index of the Hanoi Stock Exchange added 0.12 points, or 0.11% at 107.42 points, with 29.17 million shares worth VND371.8 billion transacted at the end of the day, down 25.21% and 39.25% against the session earlier. Block deals reached some VND30 billion.

Lender ACB rose a slight 0.3% on the northern bourse at VND30,200 per share.

Industrial firm VCS drew investor attention today, surging 7.5% at VND69,000, with 475,700 shares changing hands. The VCS stock upsurge was attributed to its positive business results which have been publicized.

Among the HNX30 stocks, insurer PVI advanced 2.9% at VND39,000, with matching volume reaching 292,615 shares.

Leading the northern bourse by liquidity, SHB closed at its reference price of VND7,600, with matching volume totaling 4.88 million shares, followed by petroleum technical service firm PVS with volume of 3.42 million shares.