HCMC – The VN-Index of the HCMC market reversed course and closed with a slight gain on July 21, with many largecaps making recovery such as dairy firm VNM and the lenders VCB, CTG, and VPB.

With 164 stocks rising and 196 others declining, the benchmark index added a mere 0.29 point, or 0.03% versus the previous session to close at 861.69. The southern bourse saw turnover dipping with trading volume and value contracting 14% and 4% against Monday at 245.4 million shares worth VND4.5 trillion, including VND799 billion contributed by shares transacted in block deals. Multiple largecaps recovered but they increased slightly by around 0.5%. Meanwhile, decliners just suffered minor losses. The biggest losers in this group--- State-owned rubber firm GVR and fuel distributor PLX---shed a mere 1% each. Besides this, steelmaker HPG again took the lead for liquidity with matching volume exceeding 11 million shares, inching up 0.36% to VND28,100 per share. Especially, foreign investors heavily net sold HPG shares with net selling volume reaching nearly 2.4 million shares. TCH, a financial investment company, became a cash flow magnet and led the HCMC market by liquidity with 13 million shares changing hands, following news that TCH was added to the VN30 basket. TCH expanded 4.23%. Meanwhile, housing developer KDH, another latest addition to the basket, recorded low liquidity with some 500,000 shares traded, even though it improved 0.61%. On the northern bourse, the positive trading of lender ACB, the largest stock of the Hanoi market, contributed to the recovery of the HNX-Index. The index managed to close above its reference level, adding 0.37 point to 116.09, with 41 winners and 43 losers.