HCMC – The strong selling pressure dragged many stocks down, pulling the VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange below the 1,500-point level.
At the close, the benchmark index lost 7.78 points, or 0.52%, from the session earlier, at 1,493.03 points, with decliners outnumbering gainers by 315 to 166.
Trade volume totaled over 1.1 billion shares worth VND35.4 trillion, down 3.95% in volume but up 11.36%% in value over the day earlier. Of the total, 53.83 million shares valued at VND2.62 trillion were traded in block deals.
Real estate stock VIC helped save the market from a steep loss with a contribution of 4.5 points to the main index. It ended up 4.8% at VND98,500 and saw 8.67 million shares matched.
Other blue-chip stocks with a positive increase included lender VPB rising by 3.2% and property firms PDR and NVL by 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively. In addition, dairy giant VNM and bank stocks STB and BID inched up a slight 0.5%.
Except for these seven stocks, 22 other stocks in the VN30 basket fell. Specifically, brewery SAB, securities company SSI, rubber group GVR and fuel distributor PLX lost over 2% each.
Bank stocks have put pressure on the main index as many of them extended losses. For example, VCB lost nearly 2%, CTG slid 2.42%, and TPB and HDB reported the sharpest fall in the group with a decline of 3.5% each.
Similarly, among securities stocks, only HCM and VIX edged up, while others dropped, such as VND by 3.8%, SSI by 2.7% and VCI by 2.5%.
Steel stocks were traded more positively. Except for HPG, the remainder extended growth. TLH and SMC closed at their ceiling prices, while NKG and POM rose 2.8% each.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 1.04 points, or 0.23%, at 458.63. Over 133.67 million shares worth VND3.7 trillion changed hands.
Construction firm THD added 1.43% at VND248,000, saving the HNX-Index from a further loss.
Moreover, CEO, another construction stock, surged 9.8% to close at its ceiling price, at VND42,500, and real estate firm L14 soared 10% at VND286,700.
Securities firm SHS was the best performer on bourse in terms of liquidity with over 11.43 million shares transacted. It dropped 2.3% at VND54,200.
