Market searches for rays of sunlight

Last week, a member of Orient Securities Co. (ORS) was arrested for cheating a number of individuals and institutions out of their money.

ORS, along with other securities company shares like Saigon-Hanoi Securities (SHS), Wall Street Securities (WSS), Agribank Securities (AGR), SME Securities (SME), Au Viet Securities (AVS) massively hit the floor by strong selling pressures.

Shares of major securities companies like Kim Long Securities (KLS), VnDirect Securities (VND), Bao Viet Securities (BVS) also strongly dropped.

The scandal deepened an already lackluster trend of the market caused by macroeconomic uncertainties.

Some 142 stocks were off on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), compared with 76 up and 83 unchanged. On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), 193 stocks fell, just 64 advanced and 136 ended flat.

However, the VN-Index still added 1.7 points or 0.41 per cent to 419.66 points, driven by pillar stocks Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Masan Group (MSN) and Vincom Corp (VIC) significantly advanced.

Investors continued cashing on speculative stocks. Speculative stocks PetroVietnam-Idico Long Son Industrial Park Investment (PXL) outperformed the market with more than one million shares matched, shedding 3.45 per cent. Becamex Infrastructure Development (IJC) followed with 950,000 units matched, hitting the floor.

Post and Telecommunications Investment and Construction (PTC), Mientrung Petroleum Construction (PXM), Lao Cai Mineral Exploitation & Processing (LCM) hit the ceiling with hundreds of thousands of shares matched.

Some production sector stocks rallied today, among them Long An Food Processing Export (LAF), Dong A Plastic Group (DAG) and Bien Hoa Sugar (BHS).

The HNX-Index of the northern bourse lost 1.04 points or 1.46 per cent to close at 70.46 points.

Liquidity tumbled to 22.8 million shares worth VND357.68 billion ($17.4 million) on HoSE. The figures stood at 24.9 million shares worth VND247.4 billion ($12.1 million) on the HNX.