Banking sector a drag in VN-Index losing session

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), Vietnam’s main bourse on which VN-Index is based, saw 222 stocks lose and 130 gain.

Order matched transactions surged to VND3.12 trillion ($134.54 million) from VND2.7 trillion ($116.43 million) in the previous session, making Friday one of the livelier trading sessions this month.

The VN30-Index for the bourse’s 30 biggest market caps dropped 0.29 percent, with 18 losing and 8 gaining.

ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros topped losses yet again with a 6.6 percent fall. The blue chip is currently one of the most volatile on the VN30, hitting its floor or ceiling price for most sessions in the past month.

It was followed by CTG of VietinBank and BID of BIDV, two of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, which fell 3.9 percent and 3.5 percent respectively. VCB of Vietcombank, the third, lost 0.6 percent.

Other losing banking stocks included BMM of state-owned Military Bank and TCB of private mid-sized lender Techcombank, down 2.1 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

Among non-banking losing stocks were FPT of IT services giant FPT, down 2 percent, PNJ of Phu Nhuan Jewelry, 1.8 percent, and REE of appliances maker Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp, 1.8 percent.

VIC of Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate shed only 0.1 percent this session, after four sessions of abnormally large movements, gaining or losing between 2-4 percent.

Before the recent sessions, where it lost in three sessions and gained in one, VIC had been one of the most stable stocks on VN30, seldom gaining or losing over 0.3 percent per session in the past quarter.

In the opposite direction, MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group surged 3.7 percent. The conglomerate had Thursday announced the acquisition of a 52 percent stake in NETCO, a detergent business, for approximately VND550 billion ($23.7 million).

It was followed by VNM of Vietnam’s biggest dairy firm Vinamilk, up 2 percent, and BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group, up 1.7 percent.

Meanwhile, HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and midcap stocks, plunged 1.36 percent, while UPCoM-Index for unlisted public companies edged down 0.09 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the ninth consecutive session on all three bourses, with a net sell of VND130 billion ($5.6 million). Selling pressure was mostly focused on BID of BDIV and E1VFVN30, an exchange-traded fund that possesses stocks in all companies in the VN30 basket.