HCMC reopening fails to entice stock investors

News of Ho Chi Minh City reopening most activities seemed to not have excited investors as the index stayed in the red most of the day and closed seven points lower.

A week of mixed news reports, from dampening Q3 growth figures to restrictions being lifted in Hanoi and HCMC, ended with VN-Index losing 16 points, mostly because of a Monday plunge.

Friday’s trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, shot up 53 percent to VND23.3 trillion ($1.02 billion), highest in the last six sessions.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 19 tickers in the red, led by STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank, down 3.9 percent.

The decrease brought it down to the lowest since May 10, continuing its downward trend of the last four months.

SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation slipped 3.6 percent to an eight-week low.

VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail lost 3 percent to the lowest in nearly three weeks.

VPB of private lender VPBank fell 3 percent, lowest in over two weeks.

Other falling stocks included HDB of HDBank, down 2.2 percent, and CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank, down 2.1 percent.

CTG is now at its lowest in over nine months.

On the other side, GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas increased by 6.7 percent, contributing the most to VN-Index’s gain with three points.

PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate Development rose 2.7 percent, and TPB of private TPBank gained 2.4 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the third session in a row to the tune of VND537 billion, with strongest pressure on MSN of conglomerate Masan Group and VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 0.24 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market lost 0.6 percent.