Mixed blue chips see low Việt Nam shares

An investor watches stocks move at Saigon Securities Inc’s branch office in Hà Nội. — VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares traded lower on Wednesday as blue chips were mixed and a sharp fall of trading liquidity showed investors’ caution with market conditions.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 0. 三 九 per cent to close at  九 四 八. 五0 points. It stepped back from Tuesday’s  二. 一 九 per cent increase.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange was unable to stay positive, losing  一.0 五 per cent to end at  一 一 一. 七0 points. It gained as much as 0. 四 八 per cent during the day.

The northern market index soared  五. 一 三 per cent in the previous session, marking the strongest daily growth since its establishment in  二00 五.

More than  一 八 五. 七 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ 五. 一 trillion (US$ 二 二 七 million).

Trading figures on Wednesday were down  二0. 六 per cent in volume and  一 五 per cent in value from Tuesday’s numbers.

Trading conditions were negative, dominated by declining stocks which outnumbered gainers by  二 二 六 to  一 八 九 on the two local exchanges.

Of the total declining stocks,  一 六 of the  三0 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN 三0 basket lost values, pushing the large-cap VN 三0 Index down 0. 六 八 per cent to  九 一 八. 六 四 points.

Financial-banking stocks were the main support for the markets as the banking, insurance and brokerage sector indices went up between 0. 六 per cent and  一. 二 per cent, per vietstock.vn.

The best performers among those stocks included HDBank (HDB), VPBank (VPB), Vietcombank (VCB), Bảo Minh Insurance Corp (BMI), Bảo Việt Securities (BVS) and Viet Dragon Securities (VDS).

Other sectors that also saw share prices rise were real estate, information-technology and co妹妹unication and plastic and building material production.

On the opposite side, energy, food and beverages and retail stocks drove the stock indices down.

Another negative factor on the stock exchanges was foreign investors, who returned to net sellers with net sell value of VNĐ 三 九 三 billion –  二 三 times the number made on Tuesday (VNĐ 一 七. 一 七 billion).

According to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Company (SHS), the mixed performance among all stocks and sharp reduction of trading liquidity compared to previous sessions reflected investors fears about the market’s conditions.

Meanwhile, sellers continued to pose pressure on the market as they tried to offload stocks at high price levels, SHS said in its daily report, adding that negative moves of the global markets and extended net foreign selling were other factors to push stock indices down.

Bảo Việt Securities Co said trading volume needs to improve in the next sessions to confirm a clearer recovery period of the market and it is likely that the market will continue falling. — VNS