An investor looks at stock prices on smartphone at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran
Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index rose 0.21% to 1,270.14 points Friday while Asian stocks fell.
The index closed 2.61 points higher after gaining 27.12 points in the previous session.
Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange decreased by 16% to VND17.659 trillion (US$695.6 million).
The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 13 tickers gained.
SSI of brokerage SSI Securities Corporation went up 2.5%, VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup rose 2.4%, and GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group closed 2.2% higher.
Seventeen blue chips fell. SHB of Saigon Hanoi Commercial Bank went down 1.4%, TPB of private TPBank slid 1.2%, and BCM of Becamex Investment and Industrial Development dropped 1.0%.
Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of VND358 billion, mainly buying TCB of private lender Techcombank and SSI.
The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 0.29%, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market went down 0.17%.
Globally, most Asian shares fell on Friday as political ructions in South Korea weighed on sentiment, Reuters reported.
Chinese shares, however, climbed to three-week highs as investors scooped up technology shares ahead of a top-level policy meeting next week that will set the agenda and targets for China’s economy next year.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed earlier losses to be up 0.2% thanks to the rally in Chinese shares.
Both China’s blue chips and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.3%, the outperformers in the region.
Fears about a second martial law declaration sent the Korean won tumbling as much as 1% and the KOSPI down 1.8%. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.9% but is up 2.2% for the week.
