HCMC – Weak demand dragged the local stock market back to the downtrend today, July 22, after recovery on Tuesday, with the VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange falling on sluggish trade.
The main index slid 6.61 points, or 0.77% against the previous session to close at 855.08, with 103 advancers and up to 266 decliners. Trading volume inched up 13.5% at 278 million shares but value dropped 5.5% to VND4.3 trillion. The rise in volume was attributed to block deals, which saw over 71 million shares worth some VND963 billion changing hands.
Among largecap stocks, retailer VRE maintained growth momentum as it rose 2.47% to VND26,950. Property firm NVL and lender EIB reversed course and increased slightly, while two lenders VCB and TPB, and steelmaker HPG stood at their reference prices. The remaining big caps were bruised.
In particular, lender CTG was the biggest loser as it shed 2.1%. Housing developer VHM, dairy firm VNM and insurer BVH lost over 1.5% each.
Lender STB outpaced steelmaker HPG to become the most actively traded stock in the group of bluechips, with 8.5 million shares transacted.
Construction company ROS led the southern market by liquidity with 15.9 million shares changing hands, but it plunged over 4%. Many other speculative stocks ended in negative territory.
On the northern bourse, the HNX-Index dropped 0.77 point, or 0.67% over the previous session to 115.32, with 55 stocks rising and 97 others dipping.
Only gas firm PVS in the group of big caps closed unchanged, while the rest were decliners including two lenders ACB and SHB.
