“Major Role” of VCB Pushes VN-Index Closer to 1,260 Points

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The market had a positive week in terms of points, but the liquidity on the two exchanges had contrasting developments. Specifically, the average trading volume on HOSE decreased by 6% compared to the previous week, reaching 980 million shares per session. As for the HNX exchange, the average liquidity increased by 7% to nearly 102 million shares per session.

Notable domestic news from last week includes the February 2024 CPI increasing by 1.04% compared to the previous month. For the first two months of the year, the CPI increased by 3.67% compared to the same period last year, while the core inflation rate rose by 2.84%.

CPI in February 2024 increased by 1.04%, core inflation increased by 0.49% compared to the previous month

In the first two months of 2024, the total import and export turnover of goods reached $113.96 billion, an increase of 18.6% compared to the same period last year, of which exports increased by 19.2% and imports increased by 18%. The merchandise trade balance recorded a surplus of $4.72 billion.

Vietnam achieves a trade surplus of $4.72 billion in the first two months of 2024

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in February reached 50.4, a slight increase compared to the previous month’s 50.3 and above the 50-point threshold for the second consecutive month.

PMI in February 2024: New order volumes continue to improve, supporting job creation

Internationally, the market received information that the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index increased by 0.3% in January, while the core PCE price index – excluding food and energy – increased by 0.4% compared to the previous month and 2.8% compared to the same period, in line with expectations from experts surveyed by Dow Jones. This is the Fed’s preferred inflation measure.

Fed’s preferred inflation measure rose by 2.8% in January, in line with expectations

In terms of contribution, the leading stock that pushed the VN-Index higher last week was VCB – contributing more than 12 points to the index and also being the most positive stock on the exchange.

On February 28, the share price of VCB jumped sharply to VND 97,400 per share, setting a new record high in trading history and increasing the limit-up order volume. This breakout pushed the market capitalization of Vietcombank to over VND 544,000 billion (~$22 billion), an increase of VND 95,000 billion (~$3.9 billion) compared to the beginning of the year, and continued to solidify its position as the number one stock on the stock exchange. Currently, Vietcombank is still the only name in the history of Vietnam’s stock market to surpass the half a million billion market capitalization threshold.

VCB attracted attention immediately after Vietcombank announced a plan to use nearly VND 21,700 billion of 2022 profit to pay dividends in shares. This plan will need to be submitted to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) for approval.

Vietcombank plans to pay 2022 dividends in shares at a rate of 38.79%

Two other representatives of the banking group also had positive impacts last week, namely BID and TCB, contributing nearly 2.2 points and over 1.5 points, respectively. On the other hand, the four stocks that had the most negative impact were in the “king” stocks group, including VIB, EIB, LPB, and SSB – but they only accounted for less than 0.2 points of the index.

The main driving force behind the strong increase in the VN-Index last week was the traditional “pillar” stocks group, including HPG with a 3.6-point increase, making it the second most positive stock on the exchange, followed by FPT with a 2.2-point increase; GVR, DGC, and MSN each with a 1.4-point increase; SSI with a 1.2-point increase, and MWG with a 0.9-point increase.

On February 27, the share price of HPG increased by 5.4% to VND 30,350 per share, making it the most positive stock for the VN-Index. The liquidity also surged with nearly 87 million shares traded, including 15 million shares bought by foreign investors. This was also the highest liquidity level for HPG since the end of 2022.

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FPT completes its first M&A deal in Japan

GVR is an investor in the Hiệp Thạnh Industrial Park – Phase 1 with nearly VND 2.4 trillion

MWG does not aim to lead the price war in 2024

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In the VN30 basket, green returned to dominate last week with 27 stocks increasing, while the remaining 3 stocks decreased, namely VJC, VIB, and SSB with a meager value of 0.1 point each. The leading positive group was HPG contributing nearly 8 points, followed by FPT with 7.4 points; VCB with 5.2 points…

The main driving force behind the HNX-Index last week was MBS contributing 0.8 points, followed by VCS and IDC with 0.6 points each. On the other hand, NVB was the stock with the most negative impact on the index, but with an extremely minimal value of 0.08 points.

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