Shares close the week in negative zone on low liquidity

PV Gas's Ca Mau facility. GAS lost almost half of its gain on Thursday, down 2.4 per cent yesterday. -VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange slid back to the negative territory after a brief rise on Thursday, down 0.29 per cent to close the week at 1,185.48 points. It gained 1.7 per cent on Thursday after four straight declining sessions.

Divergence occurred in almost all groups of stocks, from finance to real estate, even to energy and chemicals. According to analysts, in the context of poor liquidity, supply and demand for stocks can change erratically, so it is difficult for the whole industry to follow the same direction.

Overall, the gainers slightly outnumbered the losers by 244-239 while 91 closed flat.

In the energy sector, PV Gas (GAS) lost almost half of its gain on Thursday, down 2.4 per cent; Petrolimex (POW) decreased 2.5 per cent after hitting the ceiling price in the previous session. Meanwhile, other power stocks such as Ba Ria Thermal Power (BTP), Thac Ba Hydropower (TBC), Central Hydropower (CHP) and Thac Mo Hydropower (TMP) increased between 1.5-5.5 per cent each.

In the banking sector, 11 out of 18 banks in the southern bourse declined. Big losers included Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Techcombank (TCB), VPBank (VPB) and Military Bank (MBB) each dropping more than 1 per cent. Losers such as Vietnam International Bank (VIB), BIDV (BID) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) were down slightly.

Liquidity remained modest with more than 478 million shares worth VND10.2 trillion (US$440 million) being traded.

According to analysts at Viet Dragon Securities Co, low liquidity showed that the money flow is inadequate, which has reduced the reliability of the current reversal signal. Besides, the rise of the mid-cap group along with the slowdown and divergence of the large-cap group, led to the recovery uncertainty.

“It is expected that the market's resurgence will temporarily slow down and need to explore supply and demand in the area around 1,190 points of the VN-Index,” analyst Phuong Nguyen wrote in a report.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slipped 0.45 per cent to close the week at 275.93 points with 60 million shares worth VND1.2 trillion being exchanged.