Petroleum stocks gain on higher oil prices

Petroleum and industries such as food and beverage and home appliance advanced on Monday but their growth was not enough to save the stock market from falling.

The benchmark VN Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange was down 0.28 per cent to close at 955.89 points.

The southern market index stepped down from its weekly growth of 3.45 per cent made last week.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange dropped 0.30 per cent to end at 106.82 points.

The northern market index gained 2.21 per cent in the previous trading week.

Shares of the petroleum companies advanced as oil futures were lifted after a deal was reached last weekend between the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a Russia-led company to cut production.

On global trading, Brent crude rose nearly 2.7 per cent on Friday to close last week at US$61.67 a barrel. US crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 2.2 per cent that day.

As a result, the mining-oil-gas industry index was up 1.1 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed, driven by PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Mud Drilling (PVC).

Defensive stocks also had a good day as investors became more favoured for those stocks in the remaining days of the year when the domestic consumer market often gets more active and dynamic.

The food and beverage industry index increased by 0.7 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.

Among local food and beverage firms, Masan (MSN) was up 1.2 per cent, dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM) edged up 0.8 per cent, and brewer Habeco (BHN) moved up 1.2 per cent.

On the opposite side, banks and financial firms weighed on the market sentiment.

Among listed banks, Vietinbank (CTG) was the worst-performing stock, slashing 4 per cent in value. It was followed by TPBank (TPB), MBBank (MBB) and Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB), which lost between 1.3 per cent and 2.1 per cent.

Other financial stocks that also ended in the negative territory included insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Viet Capital Securities (VCI), Viet Dragon Securities (VDS), HCM City Securities (HCM) and VNDirect Securities (VND).

Though the market fell on Monday, there were still positive signs such as buying demand at low price range, according to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC).

Nearly 245.8 million shares were traded on the two bourses, worth VND5.43 trillion (US$238.4 million).

“The market may still experience a correction” before returning to its short-term uptrend scenario, BVSC said.

“The market will keep moving sideways in a narrow range amid a wide divergence of different stock groups,” BVSC added. 

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