Gleaming lights amid the gloom

The pillar Masan Group (MSN) hit the ceiling, while Vincom Corp. (VIC) added 1.5 per cent to VND136,000.

Some other large-cap stocks supported the market, among them Sacombank (STB) gaining 1.56 per cent, Eximbank (EIB) 0.68 per cent and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) up 1 per cent.

The benchmark VN-Index of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) advanced 1.69 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 429.99 points, although decliners outran advancers 112 to 80 on the bourse.

Many other major stocks fell, led by Kinhbac City Development Share Holding Corp. (KBC) hitting the floor and Hoa Phat Group (HPG) down 2.58 per cent. Several were unchanged, including Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp. (REE), Ocean Group JSC (OGC) and Licogi 16 (LCG).

Put-through volumes remained a large part of trading volumes as the market’s liquidity became increasingly weak. Total volume reached 23.4 million shares today worth VND463.3 billion ($22.4 million), with a matching volume of just 14.5 million shares worth VND235 billion ($11.3 million).

STB and VNM were the stocks traded the most via the put-through method.

Just STB and Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) had more than one million shares traded, while volumes of other top active stocks was low at below 500,000 units.

Hanoi Stock Exchange’s (HNX) HNX-Index ended lower at 73.04 points, down 0.4 points or 0.54 per cent, after rising to positive territory today. Up to 159 stocks were off on the northern bourse, while just 70 were up and 155 unchanged.

Most the major stocks fell, in which Kim Long Securities (KLS), Bao Viet Securities (BVS) both shed more than 2 per cent while Hoa Binh Securities (HBS) ended flat.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) was unchanged while Habubank (HBB) strongly dropped. Most major stocks shed from 1 to 2 per cent.

Trading volumes declined further from already low level to 16.7 million shares worth VND188.83 billion ($9.12 million).