Profit taking pulls stocks down
Profit taking pulls stocks down
Vietnamese shares retreated from a two-day gain as blue chips ran into profit-taking after recent gains brought some of them to their highest-ever prices.
The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange lost 1.3 per cent to finish at 666.69 points, down from a two-day increase of 3.5 per cent.
The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange closed down 0.8 per cent at 86.68 points from a two-day gain of 1.6 per cent.
"Large-cap stocks on both local exchanges turned into negative territory as investors sought profits after the markets had two gaining sessions," Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Corp wrote in its daily report.
Banks, securities firms, real estate developers, energy companies and steel producers saw the biggest share declines having made significant increases on expectations of record earnings during the second quarter of the year.
The banking sector was led down by Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (VCB) and Viet Nam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG).
VCB fell 2.6 per cent from a five-day rally of 15 per cent, and CTG dropped 1.6 per cent after rising nearly 10 per cent in the previous three days.
Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Corp (SHS), VNDirect Securities Corp (VND), Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM City Securities Corp (HCM) drove the brokerage sector down.
SSI was down 2.1 per cent, VND declined by 1.5 per cent, SHS dropped 1.6 per cent and HCM slumped 3.9 per cent.
SSI soared 17 per cent during the previous eight sessions, while VND, SHS and HCM respectively pulled back 6.2 per cent, 9.4 per cent and 2.1 per cent in the previous two days.
Vingroup JSC (VIC), Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corp (KBC), Sai Gon Thuong Tin Real Estate JSC (SCR) and Dream House Investment Corp (DRH) weighed on the real estate sector.
These stocks respectively retreated 2.7 per cent, 1.2 per cent, 4.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent from two-day increases of 7.8 per cent, 5.6 per cent, 5.8 per cent and 7.6 per cent.
Leading steel producers such as Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG), and energy firms such as PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) and PetroVietnam Technical Service Corp (PVS) also slid from previous gains.
Investors exchanged nearly 226 million shares on both local bourses worth VND4 trillion (US$180.4 million), a decrease of 11.4 per cent from the previous session's trading value.
