Stocks sink after last week’s rally hinh anh 1An investor watches stock movements on a computer screen in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Shares sank on both local markets on May 30 as stocks were hit by investor selling, taking profits following a recent market rally.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 1.08 percent to close at 738.21 points, recording the worst daily decline since the beginning of the year.

The benchmark index reversed a two-day increase of 0.6 percent.

The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange edged down 0.60 percent to end at 93.24 points, posting the first loss after a four-day rally of 2.1 percent.

More than 335 million shares were traded on the two local bourses, worth 6 trillion VND (266.6 million USD). The figures were higher than the previous day’s numbers.

Strong investor selling put large-cap stocks under pressure and sent most of them down on May 30.

The VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation, lost 1.5 percent with 27 stocks in the index declining by between 4.1 percent and 0.3 percent.

Losers ranged from large-cap companies such as Vietcombank (VCB), property developer Vingroup (VIC), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) to Kinh Bac City Development Holding (KBC) and Thanh Thanh Cong Tay Ninh Sugar JSC (SBT).

According to market data provided by vietstock.vn, 18 out of 20 industries in the market were down with banking-financial stocks performing the worst.

Among those industries, the brokerage sector index slumped 3.1 percent, the banking sector index fell 1.5 percent and the insurance sector index lost 2 percent.

The brokerage sector recorded the hardest fall, as most brokerage shares had previously surpassed their old peaks such as HCM City Securities (HCM) and Saigon Securities (SSI).

Investor sentiment was also pulled down by sliding oil prices. Brent crude decreased by 0.9 percent to trade at 51.81 USD a barrel, pushing the energy sector index in Vietnam’s stock market down 2 percent.

According to Saigon-Hanoi Securities (SHS), the May 30 fall erased all gains the VN Index made in the previous trading week, but it was a necessary decline to help ease investors’ worries about margin lending and create a firm foundation for the stock market to rise further.

SHS noted that the market would struggle in the short term, but its long-term and mid-term prospects would remain positive. “The VN Index on May 31 could bounce back to the range of 739-743 points if it succeeds to stay above the 734-737 level.”-VNA
VNA