Profit-taking shakes shares

Oct 18th at 11:58

18-10-2012 11:58:52+07:00

Share prices declined during October 17 's session following increased profit-taking.


Source: VietstockFinance

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index shed 0.55 per cent to 397.02 points.

Investors selling shares to make a profit during the market's modest rebound lifted the value of trades up 60.3 per cent over Tuesday to VND890.14 billion (US$42.3 million). Trading volume also rose around 43 per cent to 59.1 million shares.

Of the 30 largest shares in terms of capitalisation and liquidity tracked by the VN30, seven managed to post gains, two of those hit their ceiling prices – steelmaker Hoa Phat (HPG) and property developer Dic Corp (DIG). However, the rally of these stocks failed to boost the VN30, which finally retreated 0.5 per cent to 469.39 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, decliners outnumbered advancers by 101-79, and the HNX-Index slid 0.6 per cent to 55.93 points.

Market value reached only 80 per cent of Tuesday's level, or VND211.1 billion ($10 million) on a volume of 32.2 million shares.

The HNX30 fell 1.43 per cent due to the weak performance of the Ha Noi bourse's blue chips, standing at just 105.29 points.

The probability of continuing last month's downward trend is quite high, according to VietDragon Securities Co analysts.

The stock market was "hungry" for an impetus to increase, while the economy's outlook was poor and gold was more attractive, they said. "In addition, we cannot expect much from the business results of companies in the third quarter."

However, the analysts also hoped a long-lasting decline could make the stock market more alluring in the eyes of foreign investors.

According to data collected by securities investment publication Dau tu chung khoan (Securities Investment), foreign investors held nearly five billion shares, or 14.9 per cent of all listed stocks on the market, as of October 15.

The value of shares owned by foreigners reached VND136.76 trillion ($6.5 billion), accounting for 20.2 per cent of the market capitalisation.However, foreign ownership still concentrated on the top 10 stocks, worth VND90.67 trillion ($4.3 billion).

Since the beginning of this year, foreign investors have been net sellers by a margin of VND755.44 billion ($35.9 million). Foreign transactions began to decline from the end of the second quarter.

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