HANOI: Shares slowed unexpectedly yesterday afternoon on the two exchanges, erasing early gains in the morning as many blue chips began to decline.
On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost 0.93 per cent to close the session at 566.74 points. It also edged down 0.1 per cent on Thursday. The market breadth was negative, as decliners outnumbered advancers by 112-87 and the other 86 finished unchanged.
“The absence of support information and the waiting psychology for the US Federal Reserve’s decision on the interest rate hike will make trading move sideways in the next sessions,” analysts at Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Co wrote in a note. “Careful observation is necessary at this stage.” Half of the top 30 stocks by market value and liquidity declined, led by banks.
Eight of a total nine listed lenders slumped, except Eximbank (EIB), which rose 0.8 per cent. Meanwhile, the biggest bank by market capitalisation, Vietcombank (VCB), dived 2.6 per cent and others lost 0.7 to 2 per cent.Their crash extended to other blue chips, including dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), VinGroup (VIC), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI).
Real estate companies were among few gainers, as many of these shares rose 6 to 7 per cent. The daily ceiling rise is capped at 7 per cent in HCM City’s market. The gainers included Kinh Bac City Development (KBC), Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) and Long Dien Real Estate (LDG). ITA and KBC were also leading stocks by volume with 6.3 million shares and 4.6 million shares, respectively.
Liquidity increased over Thursday, totalling 95 million shares worth VND1.42 trillion (US$63.1 million), up 36 per cent in volume and 22 per cent in value compared with the previous session. Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange also declined 0.33 per cent to end at 77.53 points. Trading volume climbed 22 per cent over Thursday, a total of more than 35 million shares, while value of trades rose 18 per cent to reach VND387.5 billion ($17.2 million).
However, only eight stocks traded more than a million shares, of which Thang Long Investment Group (TIG) was the most active with 3.6 million shares. But its price fell for a second day by 0.9 per cent to VND11,300 a share.
Foreign investors were net sellers yesterday in the two markets, unloading shares worth a combined VND59 billion ($2.6 million), of which the net sell value in Ha Noi more than doubled that in HCM City.
