Liquidity the star of the show

The VN-Index of Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell for the fifth session to 375.3 points, down 1.86 points or 0.49 per cent. Decliners strongly outran advancers 147 to 84 on the main bourse, while 73 ended flat.

High-liquid stocks ended mixed, with real estate sector leading the losers. Investment and Trading of Real Estate (ITC), PetroVietnam-Idico Long Son Industrial Park Investment (PXL) and Hoang Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate Corp (HQC) hit the floor. Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp. (ITA) and Development Investment Construction (DIG) lost some 4 per cent each. Ocean Group (OGC) and Licogi 16 (LCG) and Binh Duong Trade and Development JSC strongly fell.

In contrast, several finance stocks ended higher. Among them, Sacombank (STB) suddenly hit the ceiling, Military Bank (MBB) gained 0.88 per cent while Eximbank (EIB) was up 1.53 per cent.

Also, the two real estate major stocks Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment (CII) and Kinhbac City Development Share Holding Corp. (KBC) sharply increased.

The mixed trend comes amid some positive news like the more aggressive restructuring of the banking sector, or likely interest rate reductions.

“There has been positive news recently. However, foreigners kept net selling and continuing woes about the European debt crisis, while some Vietnamese enterprises were downgraded last week,” said Saigon-Hanoi Securities.

“The cautious sentiment is rational as banking liquidity is usually weak at the end of the year,” the brokerage added.

Total volume sharply rose to 37.7 million shares, worth VND561 billion ($27.1 million), helped by put-through volumes surged to 12.7 million shares worth VND230 billion ($11.1 million).

The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) also lost with the HNX-Index of 0.37 points or 0.6 per cent to 61.36 points. As many as 165 stocks were off on the northern bourse, compared with just 63 up and 165 unchanged.

Liquidity was modest at 26.2 million shares worth VND225 billion ($10.9 million). Mid-cap and small-caps led the losers. Major stocks, meanwhile, saw modest falls.