HANOI: Vietnamese shares yesterday extended losses for a second day on both local bourses, led by insurance firms pulling back after recent big gains. The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 0.7 per cent to close at 561.04 points. The southern index has fallen 2.3 per cent since Tuesday.
The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange dropped 0.9 per cent to end at 78.89 points. The northern index has declined by 1.6 per cent in the last two days. The insurance sector index lost 2.3 per cent as insurers gave back some of their recent big gains. Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), the biggest stock in the industry, fell 2.9 per cent after rising 8.3 per cent in the previous two days.
Two other insurance stocks, Petrolimex Insurance Corporation (PGI) and PVI Holdings (PVI) lost 2.2 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. PGI had jumped 5.1 per cent in the previous four days and PVI had surged 8.8 per cent in the previous six days. Local energy stocks also fell after global oil prices dropped to near a seven-year low.
The US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on Wednesday fell by 0.9 per cent to trade at US$37.16 a barrel, after having earlier this week drop to a seven-year low as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week decided not to cut production quotas to bolster prices.
As a result, PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (GAS) was down 1.6 per cent and has dropped 5.5 per cent since last Friday while PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD) fell 1.7 per cent and has declined 7.8 per cent in four days.
Other large cap stocks such as the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and Vingroup JSC also fell and pulled the market down further. BIDV (BID) lost 1.5 per cent and Vingroup (VIC) was down 1.2 per cent yesterday. Both local bourses exchanged more than 155 million shares worth VND2.4 trillion ($106 million), a decrease of 5.8 per cent from Wednesday.
