VN-Index makes good start in lunar new year

The VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), rose 9.02 points, or 0.81%, to 1,117.1 in the opening session of Lunar New Year as cash strongly flowed into banking, securities and steel stocks.

This is the third time in a row that the benchmark index has increased in the first trading session of the lunar year. However, its gain narrowed significantly from 3.66% in 2021 and 1.26% in 2022.

Nearly 605 million shares changed hands for more than VND11.1 trillion ($472.99 million), a decrease of VND500 billion against the previous session on January 19. Of this, the matching value accounted for an overwhelming proportion of nearly 94%.

Investors poured money into stocks of banking, securities, insurance, steel and coal firms that showed positive business results in the last quarter of 2022 or long-term growth prospects as their market prices had sharply declined.

VND of VNDirect Securities took the lead in trading value with VND580 billion ($24.72 million), followed by HPG of steel maker Hoa Phat VND564 billion, VPB of VPBank VND482 billion, and SSI of Saigon Securities VND411 billion.

The biggest contributors to the VN-Index gain were GAS of PV Gas, VIC of Vingroup and VHM of Vinhomes, up over 2% each.

On the other side, BID of BIDV bank, after a strong rally before the Lunar New Year holiday, fell 3% to VND44,550 ($1.9) per share on profit-taking pressure.

Foreign investors continued to be net buyers for the fifth consecutive session to the tune of nearly VND515 billion ($21.94 million) on the HoSE. They mainly net purchased industry leaders like HPG, VND, SSI, VCB of Vietcombank, and VNM of Vinamilk.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi bourse gained 0.89 points to 220.76, while the UpCOM-Index on the unlisted public company market inched up 1.01 points to 74.99.