Market plunges to the floor as confidence hits rock bottom

While price hikes along with government’s credit tightening policies are still putting pressure on the local stock market, speculators manipulating the market sometimes in recent sessions had made investors generally choosing to keep on the sideline.

Trading values fell to VND464.67 billion ($22.45 million) on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE). The total for the two bourses was VND725 billion ($35.02 million), lower than that of just the HoSE a month ago.

Volume stood at 20.3 million shares on HoSE and at 17.1 million on Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX).

Investors are concerning about the central bank possibly increasing foreign currency reserve requirement by 1-2 per cent. Meanwhile, a  circular on tightening transferring foreign currencies overseas is being drafted, which could much restrain offshore investment flows, according to CafeF.vn.

The shares supply today surpassed the demand continually.

The benchmark VN-Index slightly added 0.8 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 464.29 points, helped by some blue-chips advancing.

Masan Group (MSN) and PetroVietnam Drilling (PVD) led the gainers supporting the market. Vincom Corp (VIC) and Vinamilk (VNM) both added VND1,000, while PetroVietnam Finance was up VND400.

In  contrast, Bao Viet Holding (BVH), Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), along with Sacombank (STB) and Vietinbank all declined. Some other major stocks ended flat.

Some 117 stocks were off compared with 89 advanced and 82 ended flat.

On the HNX, the benchmark HNX-Index lost 0.46 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 90.26 points with numerous stocks being strongly sold at low.

Half the market fell down, just 69 were up and the remainders unchanged. Supportive stocks largely sunk, among them the coffee exporter Thai Hoa Viet Nam Group (TVH),

Sacomreal (SCR) and PetroVietnam Northern Gas (PVG).