Blue chips send stock market down again

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, on which the VN-Index is based, was a sea of red with 266 tickers losing and 103 gaining.

Total trading volume fell nearly 10 percent over the previous session to VND4.33 trillion ($188.19 million), roughly the average liquidity so far this month.

Vietnam’s benchmark index turned red again after having inched up 0.03 percent on Tuesday. The previous two sessions before Tuesday say it lose 1.22 percent and 0.55 percent, respectively.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 biggest capped stocks went down 0.85 percent, with 25 tickers losing and three gaining. This basket accounted for 47 percent of trading volume this session.

CTD of construction giant Coteccons and ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros were big losers, both falling 4.2 percent. VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes dropped 1.6 percent, while NVL of real estate developer Novaland added 0.6 percent.

CTG of VietinBank and BID of BIDV, two of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, were the next biggest losing stocks, down 2.1 percent and 2 percent respectively. VCB, the third, kept its opening price, while MBB of state-owned mid-sized Military Bank shed 0.9 percent.

All but one ticker in the private banking sector finished in the red this session. STB of Sacombank fell 1.7 percent, VPB of VPBank 1.3 percent, TCB of Techcombank 1.2 percent and HDB of HDBank 1.2 percent. EIB of Eximbank was 0.3 percent in the green.

In the oil and gas sector, PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex shed 1.3 percent, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas 1.1 percent, and POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power 0.9 percent.

Other major stocks that lost in this session included VHM of dairy giant Vinamilk, down 1.6 percent, BVH of insurance group Bao Viet Group, down 1.5 percent, and PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, 1.3 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest cap, slid 0.4 percent this session. According to data from brokerage VNDIRECT, the 10 biggest losing stocks this session, shaved 5.35 points off the VN-Index.

VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, a subsidiary of Vingroup, topped gains this session with 2.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, shed 0.66 percent; but the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.37 percent.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers on all three bourses to the tune of VND163 billion ($7.08 million), with selling pressure mostly on VNM of Vinamilk and HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, which kept its opening price this session.