Vietnamese shares fall for a second day

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares slid for a second day on both local exchanges as investor confidence declined on expectations that a US rate hike in June and declining oil prices would send energy firms down further.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange and the HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange fell 0.5 percent each to finish at 619.20 points and 81.81 points, respectively.

The southern index has dropped 0.9 percent in the last two sessions and the northern index has declined by 0.5 percent during this period.

"Investor confidence turned low after the US central bank signaled it could raise interest rates in June," Saigon-Hanoi Securities Corp (SHS) wrote in its daily report.

A rate hike could force Vietnam's central bank to weaken the Vietnamese dong to protect investors' dong-based assets in local markets as the US dollar will get stronger against other currencies.

On May 19, the daily reference mid-point rate jumped 21 VND to 21,911 VND from 21,890 VND on May 18. A weaker dong drove listed banks down as they will have to spend more local money to trade for US dollars and reduce their earnings from this business segment.

Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB), Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) were among the decliners in the banking sector. These stocks lost between 1.1 percent and 3 percent.

Brokerage firms also suffered from lower investor confidence. The biggest firms seeing losses in this sector included HCM City Securities Corp (HCM), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), VNDirect Securities Corp (VND) and Kim Long Securities Corp (KLS), which slid between 0.5 percent and 1.7 percent.

Additionally, energy stocks continued their downward trend as oil prices extended drops after the markets witnessed an unexpected gain in US stockpiles.

London-traded Brent crude skid 2.2 percent to trade at 47.84 USD a barrel. Brent crude has gone down 2.9 percent in the last two trading days.

Among local energy shares, PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) recorded the lowest fall of 0.9 percent, while PetroVietnam Mud Drilling Corp (PVC) was the biggest loser by tumbling 4.1 percent.

The recent centre-of-attention conglomerate Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) on May 19 retreated 1.2 percent after it surged 13.5 percent in the previous two sessions.

Both local markets traded nearly 189 million shares worth 3 trillion VND (134.5 million USD), a decrease of nearly 4 percent from previous day's trading value.-VNA