Large-cap stocks pull market down
Large-cap stocks pull market down
Shares sunk for a second day on the HCM Stock Exchange yesterday under heavy profit-taking selling pressure while investors became cautious ahead of the release of the third-quarter earnings of companies.
The benchmark VN-Index, the measure of 312 stocks, lost 0.4 per cent to close at 683.1 points after reaching nearly 689 points in the early morning trade. Slumps of large-cap stocks weighed on the market.
The Index climbed for nine consecutive sessions before landing down 0.4 per cent on Friday.
Only two of the 10 biggest stocks by market value on the southern bourse increased, including dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) and PV Gas (GAS), both up less than 1 per cent, while another six tumbled.
Property developer VinGroup (VIC) was the largest loser, decreasing 3.4 per cent yesterday. VIC shares declined 4.4 per cent in the last two trades after the company announced its plan of changing Vinschool and Vinmec, its education and hospital arms, to a non-profit model.
Steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) followed with a drop of 2.6 per cent in value.
These two shares were also on the top list of the most sold shares by foreign investors yesterday. Foreigners were responsible for a net sell value of nearly VND29 billion for VIC shares and VND23 billion for HPG shares.
The market breadth was negative with the losing shares outnumbering the gaining ones by 131-122 while 59 closed unchanged.
Liquidity increased slightly with more than 121 million shares worth over VND2.7 trillion (US$121 million) traded by the end of the session.
Overseas investors returned to net selling in HCM City's market after two net buying days. They offloaded 5.4 million shares worth a net value of nearly VND153 billion yesterday.
In the first nine months of this year, foreigners were responsible for total net sell value of VND5.3 trillion. This is in contrast to the fact that they were net buyers for a total value of VND3.5 trillion in the same period of last year.
On the smaller exchange in Ha Noi, the foreign sector was net buyers for a total value of nearly VND1.2 trillion during January-September.
The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was up 0.4 per cent to end at 85.4 points with over 36 million shares worth VND460 billion exchanged.
According to analysts at VP Bank Securities Co, the market is exposed to downward risk after a long-run winning period. In the context of current low deposit rates and incoming third-quarter earnings season, investors will likely maintain their investments in the securities market.
