Money flees blue chips, markets down

Hanoi (VNA) - Shares sank for a second day on June 22 as large-cap stocks continued to suffer profit-taking pressure while money sought opportunities in small- and mid-cap stocks.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index was down 0.14 percent to close at 766.30 points.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched down 0.07 percent to end at 98.61 points.

Large-cap stocks led the market downturn with eight of the top 10 largest shares by market value on the main bourse in HCM City losing value.

Bank shares continued to decline as investors practiced the ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ strategy. After purchasing the shares based on the imminent passing of the bad debt settlement resolution by the National Assembly, they proceeded to sell once the event happened.

Eight of nine listed lenders on the two exchanges slumped, of which Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) was the biggest loser with a 3.9-percent decrease. Big banks such as Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID) and Military Bank (MBB) slipped between 0.9-2.2 percent.

“The story of the bank shares is about to end after strong rallies for most of these stocks (except for Vietcombank),” market analysts at Vietnam Investment Securities Co wrote in a note.

“Money flows are looking for the last chance at a few stocks which have not increased much in the past rally, as well as the stocks promising positive business results in the second quarter,” they said, noting securities, steel and electronics companies would likely yield fruitful results.

Stocks of these companies, such as FPT Corp (FPT), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Mobile World Group (MWG), posted gains in the June 22 trade.

On the positive side, investors are also channelling money into small- and mid-cap stocks, particularly in the real estate and agribusiness sectors.

Popular companies such as Saigon Thuong Tin Real Estate (SCR), Dat Xanh Real Estate Service & Construction (DXG), Novaland Investment (NVL), Hoa Binh Construction Group (HBC), Kinh Bac City Development (KBC) on the HCM Stock Exchange, and Vietnam Construction and Import Export (VCG) on the Hanoi Stock Exchange were among the most active, with each seeing several million shares worth over 100 billion VND (4,405 USD) traded.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Co (HAG) and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agricultural Investment (HNG) also soared with rises of 4.5 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.

Liquidity decreased slightly with a total of 278 million shares worth a combined 5.2 trillion VND (227.2 million USD) traded in the two markets, down 13.1 percent in volume and 3.4 percent in value compared to the previous day’s trade.

Foreign investors increased buying local stocks with another net buy value of 85 billion VND on the HCM Stock Exchange.-VNA