Turnover on Vietnam's southern stock market hits all-time high

VN-Index, the main index of Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City bourse in south Vietnam, climbed to a 4- year high during the week before losing some ground on Friday. Meanwhile, turnover totaled over 4 trillion VND (191 million U.S. dollars), an all-time high. The VN-Index closed at 570.57 points on Friday, down 0.47 points, or 0.08 percent, from the previous trading day's close. From the previous week's close, the index advanced 0.37 points, or 0.06 percent. The index experienced two ups and three downs in the week, posting the highest level of 578.12 points on Wednesday and the lowest level of 570.20 points on Monday. In comparison, it ranged between 553.90 points and 572.22 points the previous week. According to FPT Securities, the 580-point level indicated strong resistance, and the benchmark index experienced deep losses before approaching this level. About 124.76 million shares worth 1.98 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (93.92 million U.S. dollars) changed hands on the HCM City Stock Exchange (HoSE) on Friday, a sharp decrease of 108.13 percent in volume and 103.42 percent in value as against Thursday. VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 leading stocks by both market capitalization and liquidity, closed at 639.37 points on Friday, up 0.67 points, or 0.1 percent, from the previous trading day. About 44.78 million shares worth 1.02 trillion VND (48.27 million U.S. dollars) were traded on Friday. According to statistics by the bourse, in 2013 the average daily trading volume on the bourse reached 64.48 million shares worth 1,060 billion VND (50.24 million U.S. dollars). Since the beginning of 2014, the average daily volume climbed to 106.98 million shares with turnover of 1,786 billion VND (84.64 million U. S. dollars). Experts from Vietstock Finance said speculative stocks will remain attractive to investors in February. Profit-taking pressures on blue chips will also be a factor that 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 on easing restriction for foreign investors was passed.