Shares performed well on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on December 12 on the efforts of energy and beverage stocks following news about the State’s divestment from largest brewer Sabeco and a jump in oil prices.

Investors follows transactions at Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) in Hanoi 

The benchmark VN Index gained 1.07 percent to close at 927.25 points, rebounding from the previous sharp fall of 2.42 percent.

More than 243 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth 5.8 trillion VND (258.3 million USD).

The figures posted a quarter increase in trading volume and a 27 percent rise in trading value compared to December 11.

The market’s rebound was attributed to the growth of the energy and beverage sectors, which were lifted by brewer Sabeco (SAB), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD).

The two energy shares, GAS and PVD, increased by 4.6 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, boosting the energy industry index up 3.6 percent, data on news site vietstock.vn showed.

The sharp rise came after Brent crude added nearly 1 percent to rise above 65 USD a barrel for the first time since 2015 following the shutdown of the Forties North Sea pipeline.

Sabeco shares advanced 6.8 percent – hitting its daily increasing margin – after the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on December 11 announced Vietnam Beverage Co Ltd had registered to purchase at least 25 percent of Sabeco shares at the firm’s coming stake sale on December 18.

Sabeco is seen as Vietnam’s largest brewer with the Government, through the MoIT, holding more than half of the company’s capital.

The news also helped pull up dairy producer Vinamilk shares by 1.8 percent. Vinamilk is also another large-cap firm in which the Government is holding the controlling stake.

In addition, the large-cap group recovered after having traded in the negative side for most of Tuesday’s session.

Eighteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 Index advanced, lifting the large-cap index by 0.72 percent to 914.82 points from its intraday low level of 883.52 points.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index fell 0.78 percent to end at 110.91 points, recouping some of its loss from the intraday low level of 106.84 points.

More than 90.5 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth 1.28 trillion VND (56.4 million USD).

According to Bao Viet Securities (BVSC), the flow of money was not distributed fairly among all sectors and focused only on large-cap stocks, thus, lifting both the large-cap group and the stock market.

“The market’s overall selling pressure remained high and we are doubtful that the stock market would make it back to its upward trend at the moment,” BVSC said in a note, adding that the benchmark VN Index could fall further to the range of 895-900 points.-VNA