Week starts with a bang

Matching value sunk to VND368.5 billion ($17.8 million) on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), compared with nearly VND850 billion ($41.1 million) in the previous session.

Put-through transaction also dipped. Total liquidity of the main bourse totaled only VND474 billion ($22.9 million), down more than 74 per cent against the previous session.

While demand for shares in the previous week had strongly come from exchange-traded funds as they periodically reviewed portfolios, local analysts and investors expected a sinking in demand for shares this week when they finished reviewing.

“ETFs’ demand for shares, if any, will considerably reduce next week,” Saigon-Hanoi Securities forecasted in its note to clients at the end of last week. “With the fact that local investors remain cautious, demand for shares is expected to reduced.”

HoSE’s VN-Index dropped 5.11 points or 1.29 per cent to 390.37 points. Half the market declined, with 164 stocks off and 57 up

Massive large-cap stocks sharply fell. Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) led the losers hitting the floor. Real estate stocks Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS) and Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) both hit the floor.

Key pillar stock PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) lost 3 per cent, while PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) dipped 2.88 per cent. PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution (PGD) dropped 2.51 per cent.

Hoa Phat Group (HPG) hit the floor today as the company admitted that it had purchased many shares from arrested-banker Nguyen Duc Kien, while those shares had been mortgaged in Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).

Speculative stocks in real estate, mineral and rubber sectors also massively fell.

Some large-cap stocks like Eximbank (EIB), Kinh Do Corp. (KDC) jumped but could not help the market’s fall.

Hanoi Stock Exchange’s leading sentiment stocks considerably lost, with Kim Long Securities (KLS) off 2.38 per cent, VNDirect Securities (VND) 3.23 per cent, Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) 1.54 per cent. High liquid small-cap stocks dropped 5-6 per cent each.

Decliners strongly outran advancers 138 to 52. The bourse’s benchmark HNX-Index shed 0.25 points or 0.44 per cent to 56.46 points. Liquidity stayed at as low as 20.4 million shares worth VND161.2 billion ($7.8 million).