Shares down as holiday approaches

Investors at Sacombank Securities Company in HCM City.(Photo: VNA) 

Hanoi (VNA) - Shares fell further on the two local markets on April 25 as investor confidence remained low on potential global risks, a coming holiday and a six-day decline of oil prices.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange closed down 0.26 percent at 707.58 points.

Vietnam’s key index has lost total 1.3 percent after four consecutive sessions.

The smaller HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange dropped 0.63 percent to finish at 87.86 points, extending its downward trend for a second day with a total loss of 1.1 percent.

More than 194.2 million shares were traded on the two local bourses, worth 3.82 trillion VND (nearly 169.8 million USD).

Except for insurance, property and construction sectors, companies in the remaining 17 industries of the stock market saw their share prices decrease.

The energy sector performed the worst, followed by banks, agriculture firms and food producers with their sector indices dropping 0.8 percent, 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

The energy sector was pulled down by PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) after oil prices fell for a sixth straight session on April 24.

Brent crude finished on April 24 trading at 51.6 USD a barrel, down 0.7 percent from April 22, and had declined by total 7.7 percent since April 13.

The banking and agriculture groups were driven down by sharp falls of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Eximbank (EIB), Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG) and its sub-unit Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agriculture International (HNG).

Among those four stocks, EIB, HAG and HNG reversed from April 24’s strong gains on profit taking, dropping 1.7 percent each.

The stock market remained trending downwards as earnings reported by listed companies failed to lift investor confidence, BIDV Securities (BSC) said in its daily report.

In addition, investors seemed unwilling to take part in trading activities and offload parts of their portfolios before the coming national holiday and international tensions, the Hanoi-based brokerage firm said.

In the next sessions, the benchmark VN Index could drop further and the nearest level for the key index is 705 points, BSC said, adding that the current trend was needed as the stock market had risen strongly for a long period of time.-VNA