VN stocks fall for a second day on economic growth worries

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares fell for a second day due to worries about a slowing global economy.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange dropped 0.85 per cent to close Friday at 952.04 points.

The southern market has lost total 0.96 per cent in the last two trading days and a total of 0.68 per cent this week.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange dropped 0.61 per cent to end at 106.65 points, totalling a two-day decline of 0.95 per cent.

The northern market index has decreased by 0.46 per cent this week.

The market indices headed down during most of Friday on increased selling pressure.

Increased selling pressure hit large-cap stocks, pulling the blue-chip VN30 Index down 1.09 per cent to 918.79 points at the end of the day.

Twenty-five of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalization declined, including Vietinbank (CTG), VPBank (VPB), Vietcombank (VCB), food and beverage group Masan (MSN), Military Bank (MBB) and Petrolimex (PLX).

The decline could be due to concerns about the slowdown of the regional economy, dragged down by China, according to Thành Công Securities Company (TCSC).

China on Friday posted its weakest retail sales and industrial growth in three years, signalling its economy losing further momentum.

The Asia Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday maintained its economic growth forecast for the region at 6 per cent in 2018 and 5.8 per cent in 2019.

The ADB forecasts for China were 6.6 per cent and 6.3 per cent.

Those figures had clearly dampened investor confidence in local assets, which triggered the sale of Vietnamese stocks, Tân Việt Securities (TVSC) said in its daily report.

Worries about slowing economies even overshadowed business news.

Sugar producer Thành Thành Công-Biên Hòa JSC shares (SBT) lost 1.9 per cent to close Friday at VNĐ20,600.

The company had gained 4.5 per cent in the previous two days after it announced a plan to sell more than 44.4 million shares to a strategic foreign investor, worth $60 million, at between VNĐ30,000-45,000 per share.

Masan shares fell 1.8 per cent after they had rallied 3.9 per cent in the previous five days. — VNS