Shares slump on foreign selling

Customers buy mooncakes at a Kinh Do bakery in Hanoi. (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Shares failed to sustain the morning rises on HCM City’s market on August 16 as blue chips lost ground on strong foreign selling.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index was down 0.2 percent to close the session at 658.1 points.

Nine of the top 10 biggest listed stocks declined, including real estate giant VinGroup (VIC), Vietcombank (VCB), PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells Service (PVD) and equity private firm Masan Group (MSN). These stocks were heavily sold out by foreign investors.

The foreign sectors extended their net selling to three sessions in a row in HCM City, unloading shares worth a combined 207.6 billion VND (9.3 million USD). They sold shares worth a total value of over 488 billion VND in the last three sessions.

Shares of VinGroup were offloaded the most with 1.3 million shares worth 62.6 billion VND changing hands. The share price slipped 2.2 percent to 47,900 VND a share.

Dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) followed with a net sell value of over 60 billion VND. Its share price managed to close unchanged thanks to strong demand by domestic traders.

Other shares like VCB, MSN and PVD were among the top shares being sold out by foreign investors with each seeing net sell value of between 10 billion VND and 28 billion VND. Their prices decreased 0.7-2.4 percent.

“The foreign net selling, if continued, will put pressure on the market rally,” stock analyst at Bao Viet Securities Co Tran Duc Anh wrote in a note.

The VN-Index rose over 5.1 percent in the last six days and analysts have warned about a possible downward correction, particularly amongst oil and gas stocks which have climbed strongly after several consecutive sessions of increasing value.

PVD and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) dropped by 2.4 percent each, while others such as PV Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling Mud (PVC) and PV Gas (GAS) were down by less than 1 percent.

“Downward risk is still high at the current time,” analysts at Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Co wrote in a report, suggesting investors put money in the shares that promise business growth in the latter half of this year.

On the other end of spectrum, confectionery Kinh Do Corp (KDC) hit the daily limit rise of 7 percent on August 16, its second day of touching the ceiling price, as investors speculated on information that the company could sell another 20 percent of confectionery producer Kinh Do Binh Duong JSC to Mondelez which is expected to implement this quarter.

If the deal was completed, Kinh Do Corp could collect almost 1.8 trillion VND in cash.

On the smaller bourse in Hanoi, the HNX-Index was up 0.3 percent to close at 83.5 points.

Liquidity improved with a total of 202 million shares worth a combined 3.9 trillion VND being traded in the two markets, up 30.3 percent in volume and 44.4 percent in value against the previous session.-VNA