Investors at Saigon Securities Inc's trading floor in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) Shares ended lower on the two stock exchanges on October 20 as banks and real estate companies led decliners.
On the HCM Stock Exchange, the benchmark VN-Index dropped 0.7 percent to close the session at 590.5 points, putting the brakes on the three-day rally. The Index increased 0.3 percent on the previous day.
"The VN-Index climbed from 550 points to almost 600 points in two months and it was due for a pullback," said Tran Van Quy, an analyst at FPT Securities Co. Quy predicted the Index would likely move sideways around 590 to 600 points in the coming sessions.
Banks and real estate companies, which have been leading the market higher, were the biggest decliners. Sacombank (STB) fell 3.4 percent while other banks like Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB) and Vietcombank (VCB) decreased more than 1 percent.
Among real estate stocks, Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp (ITA), HCM City Infrastructure (CII), Kinh Bac City Development (KBC), Hoang Anh Gia Lai Co (HAG) and FLC Group (FLC) dropped between 2 percent and 3 percent.
FLC was the most active stock yesterday with 6.9 million shares, declining 2.8 percent to close at 7,000 VND a share.
Insurers were bright spots in the previous trading. Large insurance companies like Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Bao Minh Insurance Corp (BMI), PVI Holdings (PVI), BIDV Insurance Corp (BIC) and Petrolimex Insurance Corp (PGI) jumped between 3 percent and 7 percent each.
The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), the Government's investment arm, plans to sell its entire 51 percent stake in Bao Minh Insurance, which was worth almost 48 million USD on October 20.
Overall liquidity increased. The market volume rose 18 percent over the previous day to reach over 127 million shares while value of trades was almost 2.3 trillion VND (102.7 million USD), higher than September's average of over 94 million shares and 1.6 trillion VND (71.4 million USD).
On the smaller bourse in Hanoi, the HNX-Index slipped 0.5 percent to finish at 81 points with nearly 43 million shares worth 514 billion VND (23 million USD) being traded by the end of the session.-VNA
