Late plunge sends VN-Index into the red

The benchmark VN-Index had spent the vast majority of the trading day above its opening of 939.76 points, climbing as far as 945 points in the early afternoon. However, within the final 30 minutes of trading, many blue chips succumbed to selling pressure, dragging the index into the red.

According to analysts, selling pressure this session was not concentrated among certain price points of stocks, but was spread out, indicating that investors were offloading stocks to reduce risks and balance their portfolios.

State-run brokerage MB Securities had in a report earlier this week stated that the market has entered into a stage of "risk reduction", meaning that those trying to avoid risks associated with U.S. elections will withdraw from the stock market and move their money into safer channels such as bonds, gold, USD, Japanese yen and cash, while those holding onto their positions could see short-term losses.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 276 tickers losing and 148 gaining. Total trading volume fell around 10 percent over the previous session, to VND6.38 trillion ($277.25 million).

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest caps dropped 0.2 percent, and accounted for just over half of trading volume this session. In this basket, 17 stocks fell and 7 rose.

Private banks were the poorest performers this session. In this group, STB of Sacombank and VPB of VPBank topped losses with 2.2 percent and 2.1 percent respectively, followed by TCB of Techcombank, down 1.6 percent, EIB of Eximbank with 0.3 percent, while HDB of HDBank kept its opening price.

State-owned banks fared similarly. Of Vietnam’s top three lenders by assets, BID of BIDV shed 1.8 percent, CTG of VietinBank 1.1 percent, and VCB of Vietcombank remained flat. MBB of mid-sized Military Bank lost 0.8 percent.

Other major losers this session included FPT of IT services firm FPT, down 1.9 percent, SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., 1.4 percent, and HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, with 1.3 percent.

Oil and gas stocks were all in the red this session. POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power was down 0.7 percent, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas 0.6 percent, and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, with 0.2 percent.

In the opposite direction, MSN of food conglomerate Masan group topped gains with 4.4 percent, followed by KDH of real estate developer Khang Dien House, with 2.7 percent, and PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, with 1.3 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s largest cap, added 1 percent, while subsidiaries, VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, and VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, lost 0.3 percent, and VRE of mall operator Vinhomes gained 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-caps, was down 1.24 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Companies Market shed 0.3 percent.

Foreign investors turned net buyers this session to the tune of VND30 billion on all three bourses. The most net bought stocks were VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, which was up 0.7 percent, and VIC of Vingroup.