Week ends on a sour note

Trading volumes stood at 28.17 million shares, down more than 20 per cent from an already low level yesterday. Volume was of just VND576.28 billion ($27.8 million).

Just two stocks have more than one million shares changing hand, comprising Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) and Eximbank (EIB). The remainder saw only hundreds of thousands of units traded.

Foreigners also strongly reduced their buying on the northern bourse to 1.6 million shares. Even most active stocks Vietcombank (VCB), Kinh Bac City (KBC) and Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) had just more than 100,000 units purchased by the foreign investors.

Heavy sentiments pushed down the market. The benchmark VN-Index lost 3.58 points or 0.78 per cent to close at 457.74 points.

Several blue-chips gave back, among them Vincom Corp. (VIC) and Bao Viet Holding (BVH) significantly fell. Masan Group (MSN) shed 1.25 per cent.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Corp. (HAG), FPT Corp. (FPT) and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) were among those to fall.

But, Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STV) and Vietcombank (VCB) ended higher.

At the close, 124 stocks fell, while 80 ended flat and 83 up. The gainers were mainly mid-cap and small-cap stocks.

“The market is waiting for positive news to rise up the demand for shares,” said Vietinbank Securities (CTS).

Liquidity increased on the Hanoi Stock Exchange with more than 37 million shares traded, up 16 per cent against previous session. Value was of VND575 billion ($27.8 million).

The liquidity rise was helped by investors strongly sold out, which made the benchmark HNX-Index decline 0.46 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 92.82 points.

Almost all stocks saw a negative session, with 198 stocks down while only 84 advanced. Some 97 stocks unchanged.

Just a few major stocks were up, among them Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and PetroVietnam Insurance (PVI).