Heavyweight stocks dent market hinh anh 1Shares declined on August 31 on both national stock exchanges. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Shares declined on August 31 on both national stock exchanges before the National Independence Day Holiday, led by heavyweight stocks.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange started to slide in the early afternoon session after surpassing the 1,000-point mark in the morning. It closed down 0.85 percent at 989.54 points.

Ending the session, the southern benchmark index gained 0.25 percent for the week.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gave up 0.7 percent to end at 112.79 points, but it increased over 1 percent against the previous week.

Liquidity decreased slightly from the previous day’s levels, with a total of 228.6 million shares worth 5.45 trillion VND (233 million USD) traded on the two markets.

Losses of Vinhomes (VHM) and other shares in the VN30 (tracking the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange) weighed on the whole market.

Vinhomes rose strongly in the morning trade but unexpectedly lost 3.2 percent in the afternoon.

Other losers included big companies in the banking-finance, energy and retail sectors, such as Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Military bank (MBB) Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), PV Gas (GAS), Mobile World Group (MWG), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Phu Nhuan Jewelry JSC (PNJ) with losses of between 1.5 percent and 2.4 percent each.

On the other end of the spectrum, gains of some blue chips cushioned the market, especially Binh Minh Plastics (BMP), up 3.7 percent; Petrovietnam Fertiliser & Chemicals Corporation (DPM), up 2.6 percent; Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB), up 1.6 percent; and insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), up 1 percent.

Foreign traders concluded as net buyers with net buy value of 4 billion VND. However, their buys focused on the Hanoi exchange with net value of 31 billion VND. They were net sellers in HCM City, responsible for net sell value of 27 billion VND.

The stock market will close on September 3 and re-open on September 4.-VNA
VNA