Market steady due to deeper divergence in large-cap stocks

Indices were little changed on Friday, as large-cap stocks faced strong divergence after surging in the previous session. 

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) ended at 1,505.33 points, up 0.33 points or 0.02 percent. The index fell nearly 1.1 points in morning trade, before bouncing back in the last minutes.

It surged nearly 19.5 points and broke over the psychological level of 1,500 points on Thursday.

The market’s breadth remained positive with more stocks increasing, while liquidity fell slightly compared to the previous session. Of which over 928.9 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VND29.6 trillion (US$1.3 billion).

The benchmark extended gains as cash flows still ran into some pillar stocks. The VN30-index rose 2.85 points, or 0.19 percent, to 1,525.34 points. 

Fourteen of HoSE’s 30 biggest stocks in market capitalization in the VN30 basket increased, while 14 stocks declined and two stayed flat. 

Data compiled by vietstock.vn showed that the uptrend was mainly led by banking, realty and commodities stocks.

Of which VPBank (VPB) was the biggest gainer today, followed by Masan Group (MSN), BIDV (BID), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB). All the stocks rose in a range of 1.17-3.21 percent. 

It also received support from other big stocks like Development Investment Construction JSC (DIG), up 3 percent, Phat Dat Real Estate Development JSC (PDR), up 2.84 percent and SSI Securities Corporation (SSI), up 2.42 percent. 

However, gains were capped by losses in many other large-cap stocks as investors attempted to take profit after the market surged in the previous session. 

PV Gas (GAS) saw the worst performance after losing 2.24 percent. Sabeco (SAB), Vietcombank (VCB), Vietjet Aviation JSC (VJC), Petrolimex (PLX) and Novaland (NVL) also weighed on the market.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) also finished higher yesterday, with a gain of 1.28 points, or 0.28 percent, to 450.59 points. 

Nearly VND4 trillion worth of shares were traded on the northern market, equivalent to a trading volume of over 141.3 million shares. 

Foreign investors were still net buyers, with a total net value on both main exchanges of VND474.12 billion. Of which they net bought a value of VND475.19 billion on HoSE, but net sold a value of VND1.07 billion on HNX.

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