Shares decline for a second day

A woman passes by an electronic stock trading screen in Hà Nội. — VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares sank again on Tuesday as large-cap stocks were hit by massive selling pressure, especially during the ATC session.

The benchmark VN-Index on the southern market plunged  二. 八 六 per cent, or over  二 九 points, to close at  九 八 五. 九 一 points, recovering slightly from the intraday low of  九 七 六. 七 三 points.

Việt Nam’s benchmark index has lost a total of  五. 三 per cent after the last two sessions, sinking below the previous bottom of  一,000 points.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX Index dipped  二. 四 六 per cent to end at  一 一 六. 七 二 points. The index had lost  一. 三 三 per cent on Monday.

Strong investor selling pressure helped push the market trading liquidity up sharply from the previous session.

More than  二 五 一 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ 六. 二 trillion (US$ 二 六 九 million).

Tuesday’s trading figures were up  五 九 per cent in volume and  四 六 per cent in value compared to Monday.

On the two bourses, losing stocks outnumbered gaining ones by a roughly  四: 一 ratio, proving that market trading conditions were quite poor.

Large-cap stocks traded poorly as  二 八 of the  三0 largest stocks, in terms of market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN 三0 Index, declined while only one of them ended higher.

Heavy selling pressure was seen across the board and increased in the last few minutes of the trading session, hitting many blue chips, including the Bank For Investment And Development Of Vietnam (BID), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), steel maker Hoa Sen Group (HSG), real estate developer Vingroup Joint Stock Company (VIC) and VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND), all hitting the daily limit decline of  七 per cent.

On the positive side, Vinhomes JSC (VHM), the real estate arm of Vingroup (VIC), unexpectedly matched  二0 shares during the morning session and quickly hit the upper price limit of VNĐ 一 一 八, 二00 per share. This made VHM the largest company by market capitalisation, at VNĐ 三 一 七 trillion, exceeding Vingroup (VIC), whose capitalisation is some VNĐ 二 八 一 trillion.

In addition, Bình Minh Plastics Joint Stock Company (BMP) saw strong purchasing power from Thai company Nawaplastic Industries Co Ltd, helping this stock increase  二. 三 per cent on Tuesday, becoming the only gainer in the VN 三0 basket.

The rise of VHM and BMP helped slow down the downtrend of the market.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company, the surge of selling pressure and continuous net selling value of foreign traders on Tuesday was bad news for the overall market.

“Although the market may witness some technical recovery soon, the most reliable signal showing the end of the market’s downtrend has yet to be seen,” BVSC said in its daily report.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) edged down  一. 九 二 per cent to finish  五 三. 七 三 points, extending its loss of  二. 四 六 per cent in the previous session. — VNS