VN-Index plunges to two-week low

By Dat Nguyen   March 24, 2021 | 02:00 am PT
VN-Index plunges to two-week low
An investor looks at stock prices on the screens at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.
Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index plunged 1.83 percent to 1,161.81 points Wednesday, the lowest since Mar. 9, receding further from breaking the historic 2018 peak.

The index remained in the red throughout the day and fell to the 1,150 range before rebounding in the last hour of trading to end on a near 22-point drop. This is its biggest loss in a day in over six weeks.

VN-Index has lost nearly 33 points in the last two sessions. It needs to gain more than 42 points to break the all-time high of 1,204 points recorded in April 2018.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, jumped over 14 percent to VND17.65 trillion ($761 million), the highest in the last 10 sessions. The bourse saw 408 stocks lose and 75 gain.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, was a sea of red with only VIC of biggest conglomerate Vingroup gaining 1.3 percent.

SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation led the blue chip fall with a 4.9 percent drop to a six-week low. This is the biggest loss in a day for the ticker since hitting this year’s bottom on Feb. 1.

TPB of private TPBank followed with a 4.8 percent loss, also hitting a six-week low. This is its fourth losing session in a row.

POW of electricity distributor Petrovietnam Power Corporation fell 4.1 percent to a 20-day low.

Other major losers included HDB of HDBank, down 3.8 percent, CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank, down 3.7 percent, and BVH of insurance company Bao Viet Holdings, down 3.6 percent.

Outside the VN30 basket, SSB of Southeast Asia Commercial Bank (SeABank) started off the first trading day on the HoSE with a 19.9 percent gain.

FLC of real estate developer FLC also bucked the trend with a 6.6 percent increase, its fifth gaining session in a row.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers for the 23rd session in a row to the tune of VND364 billion, up 29 percent.

Selling pressure was strongest on KBC of industrial real estate developer Kinh Bac, POW and HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 1.34 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market dropped 0.79 percent.

 
 
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