Strong capital inflow into SHB helped keep the VN-Index in positive territory.

On April 18th, shares of Saigon - Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) became the focus of the market, surging to its ceiling price of 12,850 VND per share, the highest level in over 8 months. This strong surge not only propelled SHB into the group of top-performing stocks but also contributed significantly to the fragile positive performance of the VN-Index amidst the weakening of many large-cap stocks at the end of the session.

Liquidity surged, and the purple color (indicating a price increase) held firm until the end of the day.

From the very first minutes of the trading session,SHB's chart surged and quickly reached its ceiling price. With liquidity exceeding 1,993 billion VND, accounting for more than 9% of the total trading value on the HoSE exchange, this stock became the focus of investment flows. The trading volume exceeded 156.3 million units, seven times higher than the average of the past year.

According to Mr. Han Huu Hau, a securities analyst at VPS, the "no sellers" phenomenon appearing in SHB at the end of the session reflects strong speculative demand amidst positive supporting information from the company. "SHB's plan to increase credit growth by 16%, achieve pre-tax profit of VND 14,500 billion, and keep bad debt below 2% has led investors to have high expectations for a new growth cycle. This is also one of the rare bank stocks that maintained its upward trend throughout today's session."

SHB is currently accelerating its expansion plan, with total assets expected to exceed VND 832,000 billion this year. The bank also aims to increase its charter capital to over VND 45,900 billion to strengthen its financial foundation, meet Basel II standards, and move towards Basel III. These targets are considered ambitious but achievable given SHB's continuous network expansion, service digitalization, and loan portfolio restructuring.

SHB shares have experienced a major surge.

Despite the overall market experiencing significant volatility in large-cap stocks, particularly VIC and VHM which were heavily sold off in the afternoon session, SHB maintained its maximum upward momentum, becoming the stock that provided the most support to the main index. Specifically, SHB contributed 0.85 points to the overall increase of 1.87 points (+0.15%) of the VN-Index.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc, Director of Market Strategy at Alpha Capital Securities, commented: "In the context of VIC hitting the floor and dragging the index down by nearly 5 points, the fact that SHB and other mid-sized banks like VPB, MBB,VIB … maintained their positive performance is very encouraging. It shows that money is not withdrawing from the market but is circulating between specific sectors and stocks."

Throughout the session, the HoSE recorded a trading value of over 21,600 billion VND, a slight decrease compared to the previous session but still remaining at a high level. Notably, market breadth leaned heavily towards positive with 321 gainers and 136 losers. The percentage of stocks rising by more than 1% was also very high, with over 150 stocks recording gains of over 2%, concentrated in the securities, real estate, logistics, and banking sectors.

The VN30-Index closed slightly higher by 0.25%, but most blue-chip stocks weakened significantly during the ATC (After-Trading Closing Time). 25 out of 30 VN30 stocks were corrected by at least 1% from their daily highs. SHB was the only stock to maintain its ceiling price until the end of the session.

This development shows that market sentiment remains relatively stable despite the overall index being pressured by the selling of key stocks. According to analysts from Mirae Asset, the index is no longer an accurate measure of market health, but rather a selective indicator of opportunities among different stock sectors.

Derivatives unexpectedly experienced a sharp drop; it's necessary to monitor the basis and large positions.

Today's derivatives market also saw significant volatility during the ATC (Auction Closing Time) session, with nearly 9,800 F1 contracts being closed, causing the basis to widen to -16.2 points. However, in the 15 minutes prior, the basis remained stable despite the sharp declines in VIC and VHM, suggesting that some trades were placed on the possibility of a recovery in the underlying market in the following sessions.

The short-term strategy suggested by experts is to prioritize buying stocks with strong price momentum that are less affected by the index. "Strong price swings are opportunities to accumulate good fundamental stocks at reasonable prices. SHB is a prime example of a stock with clear internal support and not heavily dependent on traditional blue-chip stocks," Mr. Duc shared.

Besides SHB, the market also saw a good recovery from stocks like VIX, VND, and SSI – which benefited from increased liquidity. Meanwhile, the real estate group, including KBC, NVL, DXG, etc., traded actively and recorded strong gains. This shows that capital continues to seek opportunities in sectors with supporting information or attractive valuations.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/dong-tien-do-manh-vao-shb-keo-vn-index-giu-sac-xanh-163031.html