Specialists monitor a bidding session on the Hanoi Stock Exchange. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Investors are shifting off bluechips and flirting with speculative stocks, making it more difficult to predictmarket trends.
Many speculative stocks posted impressive growth last week andtheir gains even far exceeded the increases of the two main stock indices.
The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up just0.16 percent last week, closing September 22 at 807.13 points. On the Hanoi StockExchange, the HNX-Index rose by a stronger 1.94 percent, ending the week at106.52 points.
Meanwhile, KLF Joint Venture Global Investment (KLF), a pennystock on the Hanoi bourse, cheered a seven-session rising streak, with itsshares hitting the daily maximum rise for the last six sessions.
KLF has gained over 55 percent in the past seven sessions with atotal of 127 million shares traded.
In the HCM City’s market, HUD1 Investment & Construction (HU1)was the best performer last week with a growth of 30.8 percent. Investors arebetting on the firm’s third-quarter earnings, which its chairman has said wouldsee the best business results in the company’s history.
Property developer An Duong Thao Dien JSC (HAR) came second with aweekly gain of 17.5 percent.
Increasing cash flows in speculative stocks also stimulatedtrading and helped push up market liquidity.
An average of 223.5 million shares worth 4 trillion VND (176.2million USD) were traded per session in the two markets, up 19.3 percentcompared to the previous session.
Meanwhile, blue chips in the VN30 (which tracks the top 30 largestshares by market value and liquidity on the HCM Stock Exchange) wideneddivergence.
Vietinbank (CTG), BIDV (BID), IT group FPT (FPT) and steelmaker HoaPhat Group (HPG) were gainers with growth of between 2-4 percent, but privateequity Masan Group (MSN) declined 7.3 percent and dairy giant Vinamilk droppedby less than 1 percent.
Weakening of large-cap stocks slowed down the market uptrend andmade the market more volatile.
“This is a very difficult time for short-term opportunities,” saidNguyen Huu Binh, head of analysis at Vietnam Investment Securities Co. Binh said many major stocks with sound financialindicators have risen at least 20 percent in the past two months, whereasinvestment in speculative stocks is often associated with high risks.
He cited the example of HAI Agrochem JSC (HAI),which climbed from just 4,000 VND a share at the end of June to over 21,000 VNDin early August but declined sharply since then to around 10,000 VNDlast week.
“I personally think that investors should ignore short-termfactors and seek stocks with positive elements but have yet to increase muchfor medium investment purpose,” Binh was quoted as saying on tinhnhanhchungkhoan.vn.
Last week, oil and gas stocks moved in line with global oilprices. They declined in the first three sessions and rebounded in the two weekend sessions. Ending September 22, Petrolimex (PLX) lost 5.4 percent while PVGas (GAS) closed unchanged.
According to market observers, oil and gas stocks are likely toincrease this week as oil prices reached over 50 USD a barrel in world markets.
New York’s light sweet crude (WTI) delivery in November rose 11cents, or 0.2 percent, to 50.66 USD in New York. Meanwhile, in the Londonmarket, Brent crude oil delivery also advanced 0.8 percent to 56.86 USD abarrel.
For the whole week, WTI oil added 1.5 percent, marking the thirdweekly gain. Brent Oil also gained 2.2 percent for its fourth straightweek of gains.
In addition, forecasts also point to gold trading as safe andprofitable in the context of rising global political instability.
Phu Nhuan Jewelry JSC (PNJ) has climbed 51.5 percent since earlythis year, from 75,500 VND a share on January 3 to 114,400 VND on September22.-VNA
VNA
