Local stocks hit by new suspected virus case, rising tension

A PetroVietnam Gas facility in Ca Mau Province. Local shares suffered from a sell-off after one new suspected coronavirus infection case was reported. - VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange tumbled 3.22 per cent to end Friday at 829.16 points. It was the biggest loss since June 29 when the VN-Index plunged 2.65 per cent.

The benchmark retreated from a 0.20 per cent increase on Thursday and totalled a 4.91 per cent loss this week.

“The market dived after a new suspected community infection case was reported in the central city of Da Nang as investors worried about the possible second wave of coronavirus spread in Viet Nam that could hit the local economy and listed companies’ performance,” Dinh Quang Hinh, head of market strategy at VNDirect Securities Corporation, told Viet Nam News.

It was suspected to be the first community transmission of COVID-19 in Viet Nam for 99 days.

“The market sell-off also came after global stocks reacted very badly to the increase of tensions between China and the US,” he said.

On the Vietnamese equity and commodity trading market, gold prices beat VND56 million per tael on Friday and “investors might be drawn into gold from other investment channels, including stocks,” Hinh said.

Friday’s tumble saw large-cap stocks decline sharply after they had strived to recover in the past month.

The blue chip tracker VN30-Index plunged 3.50 per cent to 772.29 points while the VN30 futures maturing on August 20 dipped 4.03 per cent to 797.10 points.

Other VN30 futures maturing in September and December of 2020 and March 2021 lost between 3.38 per cent and 3.80 per cent.

All 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the large-cap basket declined, led by construction firm Coteccons (CTD), VPBank (VPB), jewellery firm PNJ (PNJ) and insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH).

Others such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), HDBank (HDB), steel producer Hoa Phat (HPG) and retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG) also finished in the red.

The sell-off also spread to mid-cap and small-cap groups as the two sector indices plummeted 3.65 per cent and 3.89 per cent, respectively.

Friday’s fall confirmed the VN-Index had lost the support of 850 points, which had been consolidated for the last week, MB Securities Co (MBS) said in its daily report.

There could be some technical recoveries in the coming days if investors looked for bargains, the company said.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the minor HNX-Index descended by 3.98 per cent to finish Friday at 109.33 points.

The northern market index has declined by total 5.82 per cent in the last three days and totalled a weekly loss of 6.40 per cent.

Nearly 575 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND8.19 trillion (US$353.3 million).

Foreign investors net-bought total VND272.8 billion worth of local shares. They net-sold VND86.4 billion worth of shares on Thursday.