Profit-taking and corrective pressure caused the VN-Index to fluctuate above and below its 835.32 opening, before losing 1.11 points at the end of the session.
148 stocks lost while 222 gained on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based. Total trading volume remained at the same level as the previous session, at VND6.75 trillion ($289 million).
The past three sessions have seen liquidity on the HoSE surge close to VND7 trillion ($300 million), almost double that of average trading the previous month, which stood at around VND4.2 trillion ($180 million).
The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 biggest caps edged up 0.16 percent, with 14 tickers losing and 12 gaining.
Leading losses this session were the three blue chips connected to Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate. VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, lost 3 percent, followed by VHM of sister real estate developer with 2.9 percent and VIC of parent Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest cap, down 2.1 percent.
Together, these three tickers took away 3.25 points from the VN-Index, more than the 10 biggest gainers on the HoSE by points combined, who added only 2.65 points, according to data from brokerage VNDIRECT.
Other losers included ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros, down 2.3 percent, VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air, down 2.1 percent, SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, both shedding 1.1 percent.
Food and beverage stocks finished in the red, too. SAB of major brewer Sabeco dropped 0.9 percent, and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk and MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group both fell 0.2 percent.
Four banking stocks kept their opening prices this session. TCB of Techcombank and EIB of Eximbank were the two private lenders in the group, while VCB of Vietcombank and CTG of VietinBank were two of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets. The third, BID of BIDV, was among the bigger gainers, having risen 2.7 percent.
FPT of IT services giant FPT topped gains this session with 6.2 percent, followed by HDB of private HDBank, up 4.4 percent, and SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, up 3.1 percent.
Other major gainers included STB of private Sacombank, which gained 2.7 percent, CTD of construction giant Coteccons, up 2.3 percent, and REE of appliances maker Refrigerated Electrical Engineering, up 2.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, edged up 0.07 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.19 percent.
Foreign investors were net buyers for the second consecutive session to the tune of around VND42 billion ($1.8 million) on all three bourses. Buying pressure was mostly focused on VNM of Vinamilk and VCB of Vietcombank.