BANK STOCKS HELP VN-INDEX MAINTAIN GROWTH MOMENTUM

The strong demand for bank stocks helped the VN-Index maintain growth momentum to have eight consecutive winning sessions as of October 20.

The benchmark index closed the day up 0.08%, or 0.73 points, to 944.42 points. The Hochiminh Stock Exchange had 200 winning stocks and 189 losers.

There were 444.3 million shares worth VND9.19 trillion changing hands, rising by 14% in volume and 17% in value against the session earlier. The southern market saw nearly 59 million shares traded in block deals worth VND1.45 trillion.

Most bank stocks gained ground, with the biggest gainers being TCB, which edged up 3.9% to VND23,900, MBB up 2.5% to VND18,700, HDB up 2.22% to VND25,300, EIB up 1.74% to VND17,500 and VPB up 1.4% to VND24,800.

Falling by 0.2%, CTG was the only bank stock that shrank.

Large-cap stocks that were the main draggers included dairy firm VNM, which was down 1.4% to VND106,200, petroleum stock GAS down 1.9% to VND72,600, brewery SAB down 1.1% to VND185,600, insurer BVH down 1.3% to VND54,000 and national flag carrier HVN down 1.7% to VND25,650.

Financial service provider TCH took the lead by liquidity with nearly 37 million shares changing hands, followed by lender TCB with 34.66 million shares.

On the other hand, the HNX-Index of the Hanoi Stock Exchange fell by 0.4%, or 0.56 points versus the previous session to close the day at 140.33 points. Losing stocks outnumbered winners by 70 to 54. There were over 46 million shares worth VND716.7 billion traded.

Lender ACB was the most actively traded stock on the northern market with more than 11.3 million shares changing hands, followed by PVS with 8.16 million shares.

Source: The Saigon Times