Low liquidity hits domestic markets

Investors at the Vietnam Investment Securities Co's trading house.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange (HOSE) slipped down by 0.55 per cent to close at 1,048.79 points. It had dropped 1.76 per cent on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, HNX Index on Hà Nội Stock Exchange gained 0.12 per cent to end at 121.64 points, reversing from its loss of 1.75 per cent on Wednesday.

Some 83 million shares, worth VND2.1 trillion (US$91.4 million), were traded on the two local exchanges.

The market breadth was negative, with 218 declining stocks against 173 gaining stocks.

The VN30 Index, tracking the southern city’s 30 largest shares by capitalisation and liquidity, slid 0.76 per cent to 1,026.39 points. There were 12 gainers and 11 decliners in the basket.

Many large-caps were hit on the local stock markets on Thursday morning. Among them were budget carrier Vietjet (VJC), Masan Group (MSN), property developer Vingroup (VIC) and brewery Sabeco (SAB).

Meanwhile, energy stocks performed well, thanks to a positive trading of crude, which also helped slow down the declining trend in the market.

Energy gainers included PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVC).

Vinhomes JSC (VHM), an arm of the real estate conglomerate Vingroup, debuted nearly 2.7 billion shares on HOSE at the opening price of VND92,100 per share. VHM shares shot up 20 per cent to its daily trading band of VND110,500.

Accordingly, VHM’s market capitalisation reached approximately VND300 trillion, making it the second-largest company by market capitalisation in the stock market after its parent company Vingroup, whose market capitalisation stood at VND333 trillion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm.