Shares sank for a third day on the nation’s two exchanges on July 24 as investors remained wary of the market outlook (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares fell for a third session in both local markets on July 24, driven down by securities firms, energy companies and property developers.
The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 0.28 percent to close at 759.74 points. It had fallen total 1.2 percent in the previous two sessions.
The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange declined by 1.05 percent to end at 96.93 points, posting a total three-day loss of 1.9 percent.
The two local indices lost over 2 percent and 2.5 percent for the whole previous trading week.
More than 219.8 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth 3.53 trillion VND (157 million USD). The July 24 trading figures were also the lowest in the last three months.
Foreign investors remained net buyers, posting a net buy value of 178.3 billion VND, an increase of 277 percent from July 21.
Investor selling to gain profits in most of the penny and small-cap stocks was the major factor that pulled the market down, BIDV Securities wrote in its daily report.
A part of the profits went back into bank stocks and blue chips, helping them advance, while most of the profits were kept as cash, proving that investors were taking a wait-and-see attitude, BSC added.
[Vietnam's stock market to remain strong in second half of 2017]
The stock market was driven down by stocks in the property, energy and securities sectors. Those sector indices lost between 0.7 percent and 1.5 percent, according to vietstock.vn.
In those three sectors, companies that saw their share prices down included Tan Tao Investment and Industry (ITA), Sacomreal (SCR), FLC Group (FLC), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS), Viet Dragon Securities (VDS), Saigon Securities (SSI) and Saigon -Hanoi Securities (SHS).
Other industries, such as pharmaceutical firms, rubber producers and insurance-finance companies also performed badly. On the other hand, banks, food and beverage producers and plastic companies did well.
In the banking sector, five of the nine listed bank stocks made gains. MBBank (MBB) posted the biggest growth rate of 2 percent and Eximbank (EIB) recorded the slightest at 0.4 percent.
The food and beverage sector also performed well, led by dairy company Vinamilk (VNM), consumer goods producer Masan (MSN) and sugar firm Bien Hoa Sugar JSC (BHS).-VNA
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