Vietnam\'s southern stock market continues on upward trend

VN-Index, the stock market index of Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City bourse in south Vietnam, continued on its upward trend this week, posting the four-year record high after reaching 572.22 points on Friday, thanks to increased capital inflow into speculative stocks. Speculative stocks were the main supporters of the week, especially stocks in real estate, construction and transportation sectors. Both liquidity and value of blue chips improved, especially during the three final trading sessions. The VN-Index closed at 572.22 points on Friday, up 2.04 points, or 0.36 percent, against the previous trading day's closing session. During the week, VN-Index won 16.32 points or 2.93 percent against last Friday's closing session. The index experienced four ups and one down, posting the highest level of 572.22 points on Friday and the lowest level of 553.90 points on Tuesday. Last week VN-Index ranged from 551.92 points to 560.19 points. About 142.809 million shares worth 2.336 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (110.73 million U.S. dollars) changed hands at the southern HCM City Stock Exchange (HoSE) on Friday, a decrease of 3 percent in volume, but an increase of 2.16 percent in value against Thursday. VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 leading stocks by both market capitalization and liquidity, closed at 641.41 points on Friday, down 0.32 points, or 0.05 percent against the previous trading day. About 52.979 million shares worth 1.183 trillion VND (56.09 million U.S. dollars) were traded on Friday. According to Vietstock Finance, speculative stocks will remain attractive to investors in February. Profit-taking pressures on blue chips will also be a factor which will impact market transactions, together with expectations about soaring foreign capital inflows and the regulation about increasing foreign stakes at listed companies, to be issued soon. Meanwhile, experts from FPT Securities said the stock market of Vietnam was expected to enter a positive trend in the coming period when the regulation about increasing room for foreign investors was passed.