Stocks reversed two days of gains, tumbling on Nov. 24 on officialrelease of November inflation data, which showed that consumer priceshad climbed 0.39 percent in a single month.
Shares treadwater during the opening minutes of Nov. 24's trading before slumpingsignificantly after about 9.30am, when headlines about the month'sinflation rate appeared in the media. After signs of slowing since June,inflation began once again to heat up this month.
"Thisis the first time in a couple of months that investors have had a suddenreaction to inflation data," commented an analyst for the financialwebsite vietstock.vn.
An investor of a Hanoi-basedsecurities company who asked to remain anonymous said on Nov. 24 thatinflation in fact did not affect many small investors who had lost theirdirection and bought or sold largely based on rumours.
However, some other investors at the same firm suggested that investorson both exchanges were wise not to sell on Nov. 24 as the market was in aconsolidation phase. They hoped that new policies from the centralbank, expected on Nov. 24 afternoon during the National Assemblysession, would spur the market today.
Meanwhile, one investor blamed foreign investors for worsening the market.
"I think the authorities should quickly do something to fix this," he said.
Foreign investors were net sellers on Nov. 24 on both bourses,unloading a combined net of nearly 54 billion VND (2.5 million USD).
On the HCMC Stock Exchange, the benchmark VN-Index retreated 1.75percent, closing at 381.78 points with only 59 codes adding value. Thevalue of trades fell 15.4 percent from the previous session to 439.2billion VND (20.6 million USD) on a volume of 29.2 million shares. Ofthe 10 leading shares by capitalisation, only Eximbank (EIB) managedgains. Shares of real estate developer plunged to their floor price.Sacombank (STB) was the most-active share, with 2.5 million changinghands.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost1.34 percent, falling to 61.27 points. The value of trades decreased by23 percent to a mere 175.8 billion VND (8.3 million USD) on a volume ofonly 19.4 million shares, while decliners outnumbered advancers by171-62. /.