VN-Index down to 7-week low after swingy session

Buying pressure on blue chips had propped up the VN-Index for most of the morning session, reaching 1,074 points. However, the index saw a flash sale just before 11:00 a.m., losing nearly 30 points within 15 minutes of trading.

The VN-Index immediately picked up again and recovered 20 points just before the market closed at 11:30 a.m., but fell again to end in the red.

As the market fell, foreign investors scooped up a net of VND180 billion ($7.76 million) on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), their third consecutive session of net buying. The most net-bought stocks were HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, down 2 percent, and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, down 0.1 percent.

The HoSE itself was a sea of red with 369 stocks losing, of which 89 fell to their lower circuits, compared to 90 that rose. Total trading volume fell sharply to VND13.65 trillion, the lowest in over a month.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s largest caps fell 1.76 percent this session, with 26 losing and four gaining.

Seven blue chips lost over six percent this session, with two flooring, being SSI of top brokerage SSI Securities, down 6.9 percent, and TCH of real estate developer Hoang Huy Group, down 6.8 percent,

The rest, which fell between 6.8 percent and 6.2 percent, were MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, SBT of agricultural exporter TTC-Sugar, VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, KDH of real estate developer Khang Dien House, and MBB of mid-sized state-owned Military Bank.

Other major losers included VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes, down 5.6 percent, BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group, 5.3 percent, and PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, with 5.2 percent.

Banks were the best performers this session, with CTG of state-owned CTG rising 4.9 percent, VPB of private VPBank up 3.3 percent, and TCB of private Techcombank up 0.6 percent. FPT of IT services group FPT was the only other gaining stock, with 1.3 percent.

Both the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and smaller-caps, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market lost, by 2.5 percent and 1.39 percent respectively.

Securities firms, before trading began, had mostly predicted the market would see a technical recovery this week after wiping out all of January’s gains in the last two weeks, with foreign net buy a supporting factor.

"In general, the government’s experience in Covid-19 control will maintain sentiment and support the market," said brokerage MB Securities.

South Korea-owned Mirae Asset (Vietnam) Securities, however, was of the view that last Friday’s session, when the VN-Index jumped 3.19 percent after four consecutive losses, had already e a technical pullback.

"Vietnam’s market will likely continue to go down in the week’s first sessions, along with regional movements," it stated.

Major indices of Asian-Pacific countries like Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Singapore and Thailand last Friday all slumped amid worries problems with vaccine rollouts combined with new strains of Covid-19 would delay a global economic recovery.