Vietnam’s shares lower after two-day rally

Shares fell slightly on October 7 on the country's two exchanges, after strong rises in the previous two sessions, as investors awaited the latest company earnings reports.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index inched lower from a 7-week high to 579.6 points, off 0.3 percent from the October 6 session's close. The Index rose 3.4 percent during the previous two days.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange saw the first decline in six days on October 7, falling 0.9 percent to end the session at 79.7 points.

"A decline today is not a surprise after the market rallied quite sharply in the past two sessions," said Tran Duc Anh, a stock analyst at Bao Viet Securities Co.

Shares were boosted earlier in the week after 12 Pacific Rim countries agreed on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Investors will now be closely watching business results of listed companies in the third quarter, Anh wrote in a report yesterday on the company's website.

Shares advanced in early morning but gradually declined towards the end of the session. Overall, almost 40 percent of 676 trading stocks lost value while over 24 percent advanced.

Large-cap stocks took a big hit with 20 percent of the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity on the main bourse in HCM City slumped, led by banks.

Eight of nine listed banks slipped, of which Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) was the biggest loser with a 2.5 percent decrease. Most others dropped less than 2 percent.

Export stocks, particularly garment and seafood exporters, the biggest gainers of the market in the past two sessions, dropped as some investors took profits. Losers included Thanh Cong Garment and Textile Investment Trading (TCM), TNG Investment and Trading (TNG) and Hung Vuong Corp (HVG), which decreased between 3 percent and 4 percent each.

Oil and gas shares bucked the trend on bright prospect of global oil prices. PV Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells Service (PVD) and PetroVietnam Coating (PVB) climbed between 2 to 4 percent.

Brent, a global benchmark for crude, hit a one-month high of 52.53 USD per barrel on October 7 while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil managed to climb above its late August peak to as high as 49.44 USD per barrel.

Liquidity declined from October 6 with a total of 198 million shares worth over 3.24 trillion VND (144 million USD) being traded on October 7 in the two markets, down 17 percent in volume and 11 percent in value compared with the previous session.-VNA