Index rises after talk of postponing securities levy

The possibility that the Government might delay imposition of the new income tax on securities trading helped the market stave off further losses on Dec. 4.

The VN-Index held its ground to close at 308.60, up a modest 0.78 percent. Eighty-six codes posted gains on the day, compared to only 46 on Dec.3.

Late Dec.3, Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh told reporters that the ministry was considering whether to delay new taxes slated for implementation on January 1 to the end of 2009, to support investors through the difficult economic times.

The collection of the tax is likely to be ineffective anyway, at a time when the market is struggling with a prolonged global crisis,” commented Nguyen Huy Duong, an analyst at Hoa Binh Securities.

In response to the minister’s hints, market volumes on Dec. 4 picked up a bit over the previous day’s sluggish figures, seeing 10.29 million shares traded for a combined value of 283.82 billion VND (16.89 million USD).

Sacombank (STB) held its position as most-active share, with 1.51 million traded, followed by SSI with 717,360 shares traded, and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) with 553,760.

In Hanoi, the HASTC-Index outperformed HCM City, adding 2.36 percent to close at 106.62, with gains by leading shares such as Asian Commercial Bank (ACB), Bao Viet Securities (BVS), and PetroVietnam Insurance (PVI) all helping boost the index.

ACB was also the most-active code on the northern bourse, with 1.8 million shares traded, and followed by Kim Long Securities (KLS) with 735,300 shares, Vinaconex (VCG), 642,500, and PVI, 421,500.

The Hanoi market saw a total volume of 6.29 million shares which generated a turnover of 146.65 billion VND (8.73 million USD.

Source: VNA