VN-Index ends three-session losing streak

206 stocks gained and 156 lost on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based. Gains this session reversed losses of the previous three sessions, which had taken the benchmark index from 835.32 to 827.03 points Friday.

After a week of high liquidity, total transaction volume fell back to average levels, to VND4.44 trillion ($190 million) this session, while it had gone as high as VND7.4 trillion ($317 million) last Thursday.

Foreign investors net sold stocks to the tune of VND70 billion ($3 million), ending four straight sessions of net buys, with selling pressure this session on VIC of Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate, and Vinhomes, its real estate subsidiary.

The VN30-Index for the market’s largest caps this session rose 1.72 percent, with 25 tickers gaining and only five losing.

HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group led gains with 6.8 percent, its ceiling price. The company had just last week published a business plan for 2020 saying that it expected revenues to rise over 30 percent year-on-year with up to four new steel forges coming online this year.

It was followed by VPB of private VPBank, up 5.2 percent, MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, up 4.1 percent, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, up 3.7 percent.

Of the country’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, VCB of Vietcombank topped gains with 3.3 percent, followed by CTG of VietinBank and BID of BIDV, up 2.2 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.

All but one private bank fell this session. TCB of Techcombank added 2 percent, EIB of Eximbank 1.6 percent, HDB of HDBank 1.5 percent, while STB of Sacombank went down 0.7 percent.

STB of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar also fell 0.7 percent, followed by ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros, down 0.6 percent, and REE of appliances maker Refrigerated Electrical Engineering, down 0.2 percent.

Amid foreign net selling pressure, VIC of Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest cap, fell 0.5 percent. It’s subsidiaries performed positively, however, with VRE of retail arm Vincom Retail rising 1.9 percent, and VHM of real estate arm Vinhomes up 0.4 percent.

The HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell plunged 0.44 percent this session, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.26 percent.