Stocks stretch winning streak to fifth straight session

Last Updated: Wednesday, April 2, 2008 13:39:23 Vietnam (GMT+07)
Investors watching the rally gain momentum Tuesday at the HCMC-based securities firm SSI
With investors confident of a recovery, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange rallied for the fifth day in a row Tuesday.
The VN-Index gained 4.14 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 520.99.
Trading volume was again fairly low with just 1.5 million shares changing hands.
A HCMC broker said: “Most investors holding shares are not willing to sell since prices are only moving by 1 percent a day.
“Other investors, who believe the market is poised for a strong recovery, are in a hurry to buy, worrying they will miss the opportunity to buy at low prices before the 5 percent daily band is reinstated.”
The State Securities Commission has temporarily narrowed the intraday trading band from 5 percent to 1 percent, in an effort to apply the brake on the plummeting market.
The broker added that investors were also waiting for companies’ first quarter earnings reports.
Of the 153 stocks in the index, 152 gained and the other remained unchanged.
Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank, the only listed bank on the market, gained VND300 to close at VND37,400.
The HCMC-based lender, commonly known as Sacombank, has informed the exchange that eight of its directors will together buy 1,145,000 shares today.
Bien Hoa Confectionary added VND500 to finish at VND69,000.
Citigroup Global Market Ltd. & Citigroup Global Market Financial Product Ltd. have reduced their stake in the confectionary maker to 4.8 percent by selling 36,000 shares.
Binh Thanh Import – Export Product and Trade went up by VND200 to close at VND26,700.
Ben Thanh Material Joint-Stock Company was set to buy 100,000 shares of Binh Thanh to raise its stake to 6.35 percent, the exchange said on its Web site.
The purchase, beginning today, will be wrapped up by June 30.
Lu Gia Mechanical Electric went up by VND400 to VND46,500.
Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment plans to increase its holding in Lu Gia to 33.33 percent by buying 500,000 shares starting tomorrow.
Foreign investors, in contrast to local investors, remained net sellers again, selling securities worth VND8 billion (US$500,000).
The rally continued on the Hanoi stock exchange too, with the HASTCIndex adding 2.98 points, or 1.64 percent, to close at 184.41.