VN Index falls for a third session

HÀ NỘI — Shares sank again on the HCM Stock Exchange on Tuesday as large-cap stocks were hit by low investor optimism.

The benchmark VN Index on the southern market fell 0.53 per cent to close at 798.00 points, recovering slightly from the intraday low of 795.05 points.

Việt Nam’s benchmark index has lost a total of 0.84 per cent after the last three sessions, sinking below the supportive level of 800 points.

Strong investor selling pressure helped push the market trading liquidity up sharply from the previous session.

More than 162.2 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ3.28 trillion (US$146 million).

Tuesday’s trading figures were up 35.7 per cent in volume and 18 per cent in value compared to Monday.

On the southern market, losing stocks outnumbered gaining ones by a roughly 2:1 ratio, proving that market trading conditions were quite poor.

Large-cap stocks traded poorly as 23 of the 30 largest stocks, in terms of market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 Index, declined while only five others ended higher.

Declining stocks in the VN30 Index dropped between 3.7 per cent and 0.1 per cent, with shares of Thành Thành Công Tây Ninh Sugar Co (SBT), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and Kinh Bắc City Development Holding Corp (KBC) coming in as the three worst-performing stocks.

According to the Hà Nội-based brokerage Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC), Tuesday’s fall signaled the stock market could keep declining in the coming sessions.

Investors became pessimistic about the current market trading conditions and they worried the VN Index might suffer a strong downward trend in the short term, BVSC said in its daily report.

Poor investor confidence was the major factor that pushed market trading liquidity higher and increased the number of declining stocks on the market, it added.

However, investors’ bottom-fishing instincts showed when the benchmark index touched the level of 795 points during the Tuesday session. That investor behavior could lift the VN Index in the next one or two sessions, BVSC said.

“In the worst scenario, the VN Index would retreat to the short-term supportive range of 785-790 points and we expect the benchmark to rebound when it hits that range,” the report said.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX Index dipped 0.91 per cent to end at 106.53 points. More than 52 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ581.4 billion. — VNS