Shares slip as virus cases surge

Cows imported from Australia being transported to Vinamilk's farms in Thanh Hoa Province. Shares of Vinamilk (VNM) dropped 1.8 per cent on Friday. - Photo courtesy of Vinamilk

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 0.34 per cent to end trading at 798.39 points.

Nearly 250 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND3.9 trillion (US$168 million).

Market breadth was negative with 255 shares falling and 115 gaining.

The southern market index had gained 1.30 per cent to end Thursday at 801.13 points.

Viet Nam confirmed 45 new COVID-19 patients Friday morning, all linked to hospitals in Da Nang, now Viet Nam’s biggest outbreak, raising the nation’s active cases to 140.

With the 45 new cases, the largest number of domestic infections reported in one day in Viet Nam since the first cases were detected in the country in February, as well as 37 cases on Friday evening, the nation now has 546 COVID-19 patients. Of these, 369 have recovered.

A 70-year-old COVID-19 patient with multiple comorbidities died on Friday, the first fatality ever recorded in Viet Nam so far.

According to Thanh Cong Securities Co (TCSC), the short-term trend of the VN-Index is still unpredictable as investors are quite sensitive to the COVID-19 movements.

TCSC recommended investors maintain a safe rate of stocks in portfolios at 30-40 per cent for medium and long-term goals.

The large-cap VN30-Index, tracking the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, dropped 0.71 per cent to close Friday at 740.73 points.

In the VN30 basket, notable decliners were insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vietinbank (CTG), Vingroup (VIC), Techcombank (TCB), Vinamilk (VNM), Sabeco (SAB), PVPower (POW), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Military Bank (MBB) and FPT Corporation (FPT).

On a sector basis, 15 out of 25 sectors on the stock market decreased, including food and beverage, banking, insurance, securities, healthcare, information and technology, rubber production, seafood processing, construction and construction materials.

Real estate, agriculture, and logistics were among the losers.

Foreign investors net sold VND129.55 billion on the HOSE. They were net buyers on the HNX with a value of VND4.54 billion

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slumped 0.55 per cent to end at 107.51 points.

It had risen 1.17 per cent to end Thursday at 108.10 points.

Nearly 37 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VND375 billion.