Week starts with a mixed bag

Hoa Binh Rubber JSC (HRC) added 0.84 per cent to VND60,000, Thac Mo Hydro Power (TMP) was up 3.03 per cent, while Societe De Bourbon Tay Ninh (STB) climbing 0.84 per cent.

Mineral company shares suddenly rallied, led by Bac Giang Exploitable Mineral (BGM) and Binh Thuan Hamico Mineral (KSA) both jumping 4.44 per cent.

Tay Bac Minerals Investment (KTB) added 0.48 per cent, while Nari Hamico Minerals (KSS) up 0.74 per cent. Liquidity of those shares were relatively high at around 80,000 to 240,000 units.

Sacombank (STB) and FPT Corp. (FPT) were among the few blue-chips gaining today. STB strongly outperformed the market with 2.4 million shares traded. Meanwhile, some 130 stocks eased back, while 86 were unchanged.

Some 77 stocks advanced on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), with the majority being mid-cap stocks.

Blue-chips such as Masan Group (MSN), Bao Viet Holdings, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) strongly dropped.

Top active stocks Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp. (ITA), Investment and Trading of Real Estate (ITC) all significantly fell while PetroVietnam Transportation Corp. (PVT) and Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp. (REE) wee unchanged.

The benchmark VN-Index lost 5.23 points, or 1.22 per cent, to 425.09 points. Liquidity hit 21.46 million shares worth VND352.45 billion ($17.02 million), of which put-through volumes made up 6.42 million shares worth VND106.5 billion ($5.1 million).

The HNX-Index of the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) also shed 0.9 points or 1.24 per cent to 71.94 points. Liquidity continued sharply falling to 17.37 million shares worth VND187 billion ($9 million).

Trading focused on a number of speculative stocks. Kim Long Securities (KLS) was active the most with 2.28 million shares changing hands, followed by PetroVietnam Construction (PVX), VnDirect Securities (VND) with 1.55 million and 1.26 million shares respectively. All those three stocks sharply fell.

Petro Vietnam Power Land (PVL) was among the rare stocks which gained. Almost all major stocks sunk into the red today.

Some 176 stocks were off and 139 unchanged on the northern bourse, while 69 climbed.