Stock trading hits 6-week high

The index stayed in the red throughout the day and closed 17 points lower as most global indexes dropped after Russian forces fired missiles at several cities in Ukraine and landed troops on its coast on the same day.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, rose 56 percent to a six-week high of VND35.02 trillion ($1.53 billion) as bottom fishing investors took advantage of undervalued stocks.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 25 tickers in the red, with the top losers being three banks: TPB of private TPBank, CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank and HDB of HDBank, losing between 2.9 percent and 3.2 percent.

They were followed by three real estate tickers: VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup, VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail and KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House, losing from 2.4 percent to 2.9 percent.

Five blue chip tickers bucked the trend, with VPB of private lender VPBank climbing 2.8 percent and BVH of insurance company Bao Viet Holdings gaining 2.4 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND186 billion with focus on HDB and CTG.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 1.73 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market lost 1.05 percent.