Market slows as correction kicks in

Sacombank (STB) hit the ceiling again, rising to VND22,300 with 4.5 million shares matched. The stock was strongly backed by foreigners, with managers of exchange-traded funds believed to be boosting their sales in this stock.

PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) also saw big gains while Vietcombank (VCB) and Vietinbank (CTG) significantly up. Pillar stocks Vincom Corp. (VIC) and Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) also jumped to register advances of 3.96 and 4.65 per cent respectively, while Masan Group (MSN) was up 2.61 per cent on the back of strong market support.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) VN-Index gained 4.47 per cent or 1.04 per cent to close at 433.86 points.

But market continued to see corrections with strong selling pressure after a long-lasing upward trend. Half the southern bourse ended lower, with 156 stocks off compared with 96 up. Some 59 stocks were unchanged.

Financial stocks continued seeing large sales. Military Bank (MBB) fell 2.67 per cent, Eximbank (EIB) 1.16 per cent and Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) shed 1.68 per cent in value.

Losses of more than 4 per cent were seen for real-estate stocks Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp. (ITA), Transport Engineering Construction & Business Investment JSC 584 (NTB), Investment and Trading of Real Estate (ITC), Licogi 16 (LCG), Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment (CII) and Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS).

Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), Kinhbac City Development Share Holding Corp. (KBC) and Ocean Group (OGC) were also well down.

“In general, the market is still in a correction period after a strong upward tide. Liquidity is tending to reduce as investors become more cautious,” said Kim Eng Securities in its note to clients.

Liquidity fell further to 64 million shares worth VND986.5 billion ($47.6 million) on HoSE. Small-cap real-estate stock Ninh Van Bay Real Estate (NVT) outperformed the market with 4.7 million shares matched.

The selling pressure was even stronger on Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), pushing the benchmark HNX-Index down 1.26 points or 1.79 per cent to 69.28 points.

Habubank (HBB) plunged to VND6,100 amid rumours about the bank’s possible merger with Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SGB). The stock continued to be matched to the tune of 18 million units.

SHB, meanwhile, gained just 0.98 per cent.

Also on today’s trading, shares in a number of securities companies rose slightly, among them were Bao Viet Securities (BVS), VNDirect Securities (VND) and low-price stocks like Orient Securities (ORS), Trang An Securities (TAS).

Weak demand for shares kept liquidity low on the northern bourse. The total volume today was 67.4 million shares worth VND589.6 billion ($28.5 million).