Fear takes hold of the market

Local media posted the news of Eximbank (EIB) vice chairman Pham Trung Cang suddenly resigning yesterday evening. The chairman Le Hung Dung said that Cang’s resignation might be related to his responsibilities when Cang holding vice chairman position in Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).

Yesterday, the news of three board members of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) resigning has already weighed on investors’ sentiment.

Banking shares led the losers today, with investors rushing to sell out those shares. Vietcombank (VCB) dropped 3.13 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) 3.76 per cent, Sacombank (STB), Eximbank (EIB) 3.62 per cent, Military Bank (MBB) 2.96 per cent. Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) dropped 3.14 per cent.

Sacombank (STB) outperformed the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) with 3.1 million shares matched, followed by Eximbank (EIB) at 2.7 million shares.

Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) ended flat.

Real-estate stocks have not yet stopped their strong downward trend. Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp. (ITA), Kinh Bac City Development Share Holding Corp. (KBC), Licogi 16 (LCG), Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) sharply lost, while speculative small-cap stocks like PetroVietnam-Idico Long Son Industrial Park Investment (PXL), Becamex Infrastructure Development (IJC), Hoang Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate Corp. (HQC) turning red as well.

Securities companies shares came back to largely fall. Ho Chi Minh City Securities (HCM) hit the floor, while Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) was off 2.94 per cent. Kim Long Securities (KLS) and Bao Viet Securities (BVS) dropped on Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), while VNDirect Securities (VND) was unchanged.

Blue-chips did not support the market as they did in previous session, except Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) hitting the ceiling. Among key pillar stocks, Masan Group (MSN) lost 2 per cent, PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) shed 1.7 per cent while Vinamilk (VNM) unchanged.

Lacking the support from blue-chips, VN-Index lost 5.27 points or 1.34 per cent to end at 389.28 points.

Meanwhile, HNX-Index shed 0.65 points or 1.16 per cent to 55.42 points. The benchmark had broken the all-time low level f 54.62 points during the session, but slightly recovered then.

Liquidity kept low on weak buying power, with matching value totaling VND770 billion ($37.2 million) on two bourses. But high put-through values helped HoSE’s total liquidity reach 58.6 million shares worth VND967.9 billion ($46.8 million). HNX had 25.1 million shares worth VND183.7 billion ($8.8 million) changed hands.