VN-Index losses narrow in third straight losing session

From 871.21 points at opening, the benchmark VN-Index fell to as low as 860 points during the trading day, but rose again just at the end of the trading session to cut losses down to just 0.61 points.

It had fallen by 0.6 percent and 0.29 percent in the past two sessions, following a streak of five consecutive gaining sessions which saw the VN-Index climb 34.08 points, or 4.05 percent.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw a fairly balanced session with 178 stocks losing and 181 gaining. Total trading volume was VND4.07 trillion ($176.06 million), far below last month’s average of VND6.67 trillion ($288.52 million).

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 biggest caps slipped 0.1 percent, with 12 losers and 11 gainers. Stocks in this basket accounted for almost a half of total trading volume this session.

SAB of major brewer Sabeco led losses with 2.5 percent this session. The ticker had lost 2.9 percent the previous session, after the Ministry of Public Security issued a decision to prosecute former Industry and Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang and his accomplices for wrongdoings at brewer Sabeco in 2016, which at the time was 81.79 percent owned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Huy Hoang and nine others were involved in the unlawful handover of a 6,000 square-meter plot of prime land in District 1, HCMC, to the private sector at a grossly undervalued price, causing "losses and wastefulness to the state" of around VND3.82 trillion ($165.19 million), the Ministry of Public Security said.

SAB was followed by EIB of private Eximbank, down 2.3 percent, MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group and NVL of real estate developer Novaland, both down 1.1 percent, and TCB of private Techcombank, 1 percent.

The other losers included CTD of construction giant Coteccons, MBB of state-owned mid-sized lender Military Bank, down 0.3 percent, and BID of state-owned banking giant BIDV, down 0.1 percent.

Seven blue chips, including VIC of Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate Vingroup, VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air, and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, kept their opening prices this session.

In the other direction, SSI of securities firm Saigon Securities Inc. topped gains, going up 4.7 percent. A recent report released by HoSE showed that SSI was the bourse’s top brokerage in the first 6 months, holding over 14 percent market share in terms of transactions of stocks, exchange-traded funds, and covered warrants on the HoSE.

It was followed by VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, up 1.8 percent, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, up 1.1 prcent, and SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, with 1 percent.

In the banking sector, STB of Sacombank and HDB of HDBank, both private lenders, rose 0.9 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. Of their state-owned counterparts, CTG of VietinBank added 0.4 percent, and VCB of Vietcombank edged up 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.42 percent; and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market shed 0.59 percent.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers to the tune of VND96 billion ($4.15 million) on all three bourses, with selling pressure mostly on VRE of Vincom Retail and MBB of Military Bank.