VN-Index gains narrow as blue chips slump

209 stocks gained and 145 lost on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based. Trading volume remained above average, reaching VND6.65 trillion ($286 million) both in order-matched and put-through transactions.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 biggest capped stocks shed 0.06 percent this session, even though 15 tickers gained and against 12 losses.

CTD of construction giant Coteccons and ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros both surged 7 percent this session, hitting their ceiling prices. SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc. followed with 3.3 percent.

CTD had plunged to its floor price on Tuesday and dropped another 6.4 percent the following day after Kusto Group, a Singapore-based major shareholder, called an extraordinary general meeting the same day to elect a new Board of Directors and order a special audit on the construction firm’s management practices.

However, Coteccon’s general director Nguyen Sy Cong late Wednesday had issued a press release clarifying its business practices and said that Kusto, which holds a 18.23 percent stake in the company, had last October made the same move in order to replace the management and acquire a bigger stake in the construction firm.

The next three major gainers belonged to Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned banks by assets. CTG of VietinBank gained 2.7 percent, BID of BDIV rose 2 percent, and VCB of Vietcombank added 1.3 percent.

VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex gained 1.1 percent and 1 percent respectively, while the rest of the blue chips rose less than 1 percent.

In the opposite direction, HDB of private HDBank and VPB of private VPBank were some of the biggest losers, dropping 2.5 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group also fell 1.3 percent.

The biggest drags on the VN30-Index came from VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup and VHM its real estate subsidiary Vinhomes, which fell 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. These tickers are the biggest and third biggest capped stocks in the VN30 basket.

Other major losing stocks included MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, down 0.8 percent, TCB of private lender Techcombank, down 0.7 percent, and SAB of major brewer Sabeco, which shed 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange rose 0.8 percent and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market kept its opening price.

Foreign investors’ net sell on all three bourses almost tripled over the previous session, reaching VND150 billion ($6.45 million), with selling pressure mostly on HPG of Hoa Phat Group, and the E1VFVN30, an exchange-traded-fund which imitates the composition, and in turn the performance of the VN30.