Losses widen as VN-Index goes down for third straight session

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 248 stocks lose and just 100 gain on the last day of the trading week.

Trading volume fell back to VND5.23 trillion ($224 million) from this year peak of VND7.4 trillion ($317 million) the previous session, although it was still much higher than last month’s average of VND4.2 trillion ($180 million).

According to securities companies, the VN-Index is facing corrective and profit-taking pressure after surging 9.55 percent in six consecutive gaining sessions, and as it faces the psychological threshold of 840 points. The VN-Index peaked at 835.32 points Tuesday.

The VN30-Index for the market’s largest caps slid even further at 0.87 percent. 20 stocks lost, only 6 gained. Nearly half of the losing blue chips fell by over 2 percent.

BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group and CTD of construction giant Coteccons led losses, both falling 2.9 percent.

BID of BIDV and CTG of Vietinbank, two of Vietnam’s three biggest lenders by assets, dropped 2.8 percent and 2.1 percent respectively, while VCB of Vietcombank, the third, kept its opening price.

Most stocks of mid-sized banks also registered a losing session. STB of Sacombank fell 2.5 percent,  MBB of state-owned Military Bank slipped 2 percent, TCB of Techcombank lost 1.2 percent, and HDB of HDBank lost 0.7 percent.

Oil and gas stocks finished in the red, too. PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex fell 2.4 percent, POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, 1.4 percent, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, 0.8 percent.

Other major losing blue chips included MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, down 2.8 percent, PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, 2.5 percent and SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., 2.1 percent.
In the opposite direction, gains were dominated by three stocks related to Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate.

VIC of parent corporation Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest cap, added 1 percent, while VHM of real estate arm Vinhomes and VRE of retail arm Vincom Retail rose 1.4 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. The other gainers included EIB of private Eximbank, up 1 percent, VPB of private VPBank, up 0.8 percent, and SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, plunged 2.08 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 0.62 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the fourth consecutive session on all three bourses to the tune of VND105 billion ($4.5 million), with buying pressure mainly focused on VCB of Vietcombank and VPB of VPBank.