Local large cap stocks perform poorly

Hanoi (VNA) - Shares on October 2 fell further on the HCM Stock Exchange as large-cap stocks continued performing negatively on poor market sentiment.

The benchmark VN-Index on the southern market lost 0.27 percent to close at 802.23 points. It was down 0.05 percent on September 29.

The VN-Index had rose as much as 0.45 percent to reach its intraday high of 808.09 points during October 2’s session.

Nearly 119.5 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth 2.78 trillion VND (123.8 million USD).

October 2’s trading figures were down 14.3 percent in volume and 10 percent in value compared to September 29. These were also the lowest liquidity figures recorded since February 2017.

Large-cap stocks underperformed with the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation and liquidity, fell 0.25 percent to 790.70 points.

Seventeen of the 30 largest companies in the VN30 basket declined while 12 others advanced and only one closed flat.

The worst decliners included insurance-finance firm Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Thanh Thanh Cong Tay Ninh Sugar Co (SBT), Sacombank (STB) and food producer Kido Group (KDC).

Foreign investors remained net buyers but their net sell value on October 2 dropped 5.4 percent to 45.8 billion VND from September 29.

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 “The first trading session of October was very bad, with liquidity dropping sharply, gainers being outnumbered by losers by nearly a 2:1 ratio and foreign investment being weak,” Vietnam Investment Securities Company (IVS) said in its daily report.

The VN-Index had weakened considerably in the late period of the last three trading sessions and the benchmark is now only two points away from 800 points, IVS said. “If the VN-Index fails to hold onto that level, the stock market will likely go through a hard-correction period.”

However, there is a chance that the VN-Index could move narrowly around the level of 800 points without any positive signals about its future development, the brokerage said. “The market will continue weakening and may extend its correction to the end of the year if demand remains negative,” IVS said.

In addition, the third-quarter earnings reports were unlikely to provide a strong boost for local stocks as investors had already priced in the gains of those stocks based on forecasts and intel sources of higher earnings results, the securities company said.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched down 0.13 percent to end at 107.51 points. It gained 0.2 percent on September 29. Nearly 52 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth 468.7 billion VND.-VNA