HANOI: Vietnamese shares fell on both local bourses yesterday as Vinamilk (VNM) extended its fall for a third day, pulling the market down.
The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange and the HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange inched down 0.2 per cent each to close at 601.90 points and 81.24 points, respectively.”Investors suddenly increased their selling activity in some big stocks, especially Vinamilk, when yesterday’s session was nearing its end,” Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Corporation (SHS) wrote in its report.
The increased selling of Vinamilk made this stock fall 1.5 per cent, bringing its loss to 7.1 per cent over the last three days after Vinamilk had gained 10.2 per cent in the previous five days before it started declining. Other big stocks that also fell yesterday included conglomerate FPT Corporation (FPT), which fell 1 per cent.
In addition, increased global oil prices on Wednesday had a downward impact on local plastic producers as they had to spend more to buy input materials for production. On Wednesday, the US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) inched up 0.2 per cent to trade at US$40.75 a barrel and the Brent crude gained 1.3 per cent to trade at $44.14 a barrel.
The biggest plastic stocks pulled the plastic firms index down 1.1 per cent, led by Tien Phong Plastic JSC (NTP), which dropped 1.5 per cent, and Binh Minh Plastic JSC (BMP), which lost 2.2 per cent.
On the positive side, fish exporters improved after receiving positive news from the progress of the international trade agreement Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which spans 12 countries including Viet Nam.
SHS said that 12 countries yesterday decided that the TPP would be finalised in February of 2016, which is much sooner than it was previously predicted. That information gave a boost to local fish exporters such as Mekong Fisheries Company (AAA), which jumped 3.8 per cent, and Ben Tre Aquaproduct Import & Export JSC (ABT), which was up 1 per cent.
Property developer FLC Group (FLC) remained the most active stock yesterday with more than 20 million shares and surged 6 per cent on expectations that FLC Group will receive positive reactions from the market for starting to sell its property project FLC Twin Towers in Ha Noi today. Both local bourses exchanged more than 164 million shares, worth VND2.44 trillion ($108.4 million), a decrease of 16 per cent from Wednesday.
