ID :
13314
Tue, 07/22/2008 - 11:50
Auther :

Bourses watch week's trade volume rise

Hanoi (VNA) - The local stock exchange saw some substantial activity in the weekending July 18 with trade volume reaching new heights on both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi bourses.

On July 16, the HCM Stock Exchange saw 34.11 million shares change hands, with a turnover of 1.23 trillion VND (74.54 million USD). This was the first time the volume hit a record since the trading band was tightened to 3 percent.

Hanoi sawa similar record the very same day, with trade volume reaching 18.92 million.

Bank stocks were at the centre of trade activity. On July 18, AsiaCommercial Bank (ABC) listed on HASTC saw over two million shares traded.

"Massive purchases of local bank shares by overseas financial institutions account for the rally," John Nolan, an analyst at a HCM City management fund company said.

Late last week, London-based Standard Chartered Bank said it would buy more than 16.2 million ACB shares to raise its stake to 15 percent.

At the same time, SeA Bank received State Bank approval to sell takes to French Societe Generale, to make it a strategic partner of the local bank.

The previous week, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) began to buy 1.5 million Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) shares to raise its stake to 15.30 percent, up from 14.20 percent.

Nolan thought that good results from those firms were another reason for the rally.

"Now is the time that listed firms announce their business performance for the first six months. It's easy to understand that good performances by listed banks make them a promising investment, It's understandable why investors rushed to pour money into bank stocks."The VN-Index last week gained 15.11 points, raising it to 483.05, while the HASTC-Index rose 12.41 points to 149.68. Both indexes saw a slight fall on July 18 when almost all medium and small stocks headed down.

Nolan said that investors would continue selling shares to mobilise more capital for blue chip purchases and that the VN-Index would experience more ups and downs.

"But it's not likely something serious, as ups and downs are the rule for every market. Investors are still keen on securities, which will keep the stock market looking good for a time," he said.-Enditem

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