Stock market pulls out of three-session nosedive

Order-matched transactions on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, fell to VND3.32 trillion ($143.1 million) from a three-month high of VND4.35 trillion ($187.5 million) in the previous session.

After three sessions of mass new coronavirus-triggered equity selloffs, the VN-Index fell to 920 points in the morning, but recovered thanks to bottom-fishing cashflow in the afternoon, analysts said.

By the end of the session, 148 HoSE stocks had gained and 160 lost. HoSE accounts for 90 percent of market cap for all of Vietnam’s listed companies.

The VN30-Index for Vietnam’s 30 biggest market caps gained 0.34 percent, with 13 stocks gaining and 15 losing.

Banking stocks led gains this session, with CTG of VietinBank, one of Vietnam’s three biggest state lenders by assets, rising 7 percent to reach its ceiling price. BID of BDIV and VCB of Vietcombank, the other two, rose 1.7 percent and 1.2 percent respectively.

After CTG, MBB of state-owned mid-sized lender Military Bank and VPB of private VPBank were the next best gainers, up 3.9 percent and 3.8 percent respectively. HDB of HDBank and TCB of Techcombank also posted gains of above one percent each.

VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air  pulled back from a five session losing streak to gain 2.8 percent, while PNJ of PhuNhuan Jewelry added 1.4 percent.

In the opposite direction, ROS stocks of real estate developer FLC Faros continued to be the biggest losing stock, falling 6.9 percent, its floor price, as it has done for most sessions in the past month.

Oil and gas stocks all lost this session. POW of PetroVietnam Power and GAS of PetroVietnam Gas, two blue chips related to state-owned oil and gas group PetroVietnam, dropped 4.9 percent and 1.4 percent respectively, while PLX of state-owned petroleum distributor Petrolimex also shed 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and midcap stocks, rose 1.25 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for unlisted public companies gained 0.67 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers on all three bourses to the tune of VND232 billion ($9.97 million). Buying pressure was focused on VJC shares of Vietjet Air, and VNM of Vietnam’s biggest dairy firm Vinamilk, which shed 3 percent this session.

On Tuesday morning, chairman of the State Securities Commission (SSC), Tran Van Dung, had said that sell-offs in the last three sessions were overreaction by investors to the coronavirus outbreak that has infected nine people in Vietnam, and that a market recovery is imminent.

In the past, when there were epidemics like SARS and H5N1, the market fell too but recovered as soon as countries started announcing that they had contained the outbreak, he pointed out.

Dung said he expects a similar trend this time, with the Vietnamese government showing determination to contain the outbreak.