An investor looks at stock prices on a smartphone at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran
Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index rose 0.33% to 1,292.20 points Tuesday while Asian stocks declined marginally from a two-and-a-half-year high.
The index closed 4.26 points higher after dropping 2.98 points in the previous session.
Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange increased by 34% to VND21.89 trillion (US$889 million).
The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 16 tickers gained, led by three banking stocks.
VIB of Vietnam International Commercial rose 2.6%, followed by SSB of SeABank, up 2.3%, and TCB of private lender Techcombank, up 1.9%.
Eight blue chips fell, including CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank with a 1.2% fall and VPB of private lender VPBank, down 1%.
Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of VND690 billion, mainly buying FPT of IT giant FPT Corporation and TCB.
The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.48%, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market went down 0.30%.
Asian stocks pulled back from two-and-half-year highs on Tuesday and the dollar firmed following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that scuppered bets of big interest rate cuts, while Middle-East tension kept risk sentiment in check, Reuters reported.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.32% lower at 618.87 on Tuesday, below the two-and-a-half-year high of 627.66 touched on Monday. The index is up 17% so far in the year.
Japan’s Nikkei rose nearly 2% on a softer yen after shedding 4.8% on Monday as investors contended with perceived monetary policy hawk Shigeru Ishiba winning a contest to become the country’s prime minister.
