Gold decision to set market pace
The impact on a lacklustre securities market of the central bank's decision to allow the importation of more gold and its sale of US dollars should be known almost immediately the stock exchanges open this morning.
The impact on a lacklustre securities market of the central bank's decision to allow the importation of more gold and its sale of US dollars should be known almost immediately the stock exchanges open this morning.
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| Investors watch the trading board at the offices of An Binh Securities Co. — VNS Photo Truong Vi |
"The Government's earlier announcements in its effort to cool the foreign- exchange market have not been of much help to the stock market because the fall in the exchange rate lasted just four days," she said.
The daily changes in the price of gold and the green back were causing uncertainty throughout the entire economy.
Ocean Securities Co analysts reported that although the amount of capital flowing from securities market to gold and currencies was unknown, it was a reality.
If gold and the dollar continued to soar, money was unlikely to flow back to the stock market, they said.
Viet Nam's stock market continued to decline yesterday as the prices of gold and the US dollar danced higher together to a rhythm that showed no sign of faltering.
The domestic price of gold set a record VND38.8 million (US$1,825) per tael yesterday morning after the precious metal soared above $1,400 an ounce on the world market.
A tael is the equivalent to 1.2 troy ounces.
A single US dollar bought up to VND21,250 on the street.
In HCM City, the VN-Index lost 1.69 per cent over Monday to close at 449.4.
Both market volume and value rose and 41 million shares worth VND1.1 trillion ($52.4 million) were exchanged – an increase of 28.6 per cent in volume and 38.2 per cent in value.
The number of declines were almost ten times higher than advances.
Among major shares, only software giant FPT Corp (FPT) posted a modest increase of 0.7 per cent.
Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) declined 3.9 per cent, Phu My Fertiliser (DPM) fell 3.66 per cent, industrial conglomerate Hoa Phat Group (HPG) decreased 1.5 per cent, and Eximbank (EIB) declined 1.4 per cent.
Sacombank (STB) was the most active stock on the southern bourse with 1.94 million shares traded, but it closed down 1.9 per cent to VND15,500 ($0.74).
Ca Mau Frozen Seafood Processing Import Export Corp (CMX) listed almost 11.5 million shares on the HCM City bourse yesterday. CMX then closed its first trading day unchanged at VND15,000 ($0.71) with 97,540 shares traded.
In Ha Noi, the HNX-Index fell another 2.64 per cent to close yesterday's session at 106.83. Trading volume rose to more than 26.1 million shares worth VND493.6 billion ($21.3 million) – rises of about 16 per cent in both volume and value.
Losers largely outnumbered gainers 288-25, with PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) again being the most heavily-traded share nation-wide, with 2.89 million shares changing hands. PVX fell 3.3 per cent to close at VND20,900 ($1).
Property developer Sacomreal (SCR) listed 966.9 million shares for the first time on the northern bourse and it closed unchanged at an average of VND27,300 ($1.30) per share on volume of almost 967,000 shares.
Foreign investors continued to be net buyers on both exchanges, picking up 2.5 million shares worth a combined VND94 billion ($4.5 million).