Hanoi (VNA) - Shares sank for asecond day on June 22 as large-cap stocks continued to suffer profit-takingpressure while money sought opportunities in small- and mid-cap stocks.
On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index wasdown 0.14 percent to close at 766.30 points.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Indexinched down 0.07 percent to end at 98.61 points.
Large-cap stocks led the market downturnwith eight of the top 10 largest shares by market value on the main bourse inHCM City losing value.
Bank shares continued to decline asinvestors practiced the ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ strategy. Afterpurchasing the shares based on the imminent passing of the bad debt settlementresolution by the National Assembly, they proceeded to sell once the eventhappened.
Eight of nine listed lenders on the twoexchanges slumped, of which Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) was the biggest loser witha 3.9-percent decrease. Big banks such as Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB),BIDV (BID) and Military Bank (MBB) slipped between 0.9-2.2 percent.
“The story of the bank shares is about toend after strong rallies for most of these stocks (except for Vietcombank),”market analysts at Vietnam Investment Securities Co wrote in a note.
“Money flows are looking for the lastchance at a few stocks which have not increased much in the past rally, as wellas the stocks promising positive business results in the second quarter,” theysaid, noting securities, steel and electronics companies would likely yieldfruitful results.
Stocks of these companies, such as FPT Corp(FPT), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Mobile World Group (MWG),posted gains in the June 22 trade.
On the positive side, investors are alsochannelling money into small- and mid-cap stocks, particularly in the realestate and agribusiness sectors.
Popular companies such as Saigon Thuong TinReal Estate (SCR), Dat Xanh Real Estate Service & Construction (DXG),Novaland Investment (NVL), Hoa Binh Construction Group (HBC), Kinh Bac CityDevelopment (KBC) on the HCM Stock Exchange, and Vietnam Construction andImport Export (VCG) on the Hanoi Stock Exchange were among the most active,with each seeing several million shares worth over 100 billion VND (4,405 USD)traded.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai Co (HAG) and Hoang AnhGia Lai Agricultural Investment (HNG) also soared with rises of 4.5 percent and4.9 percent, respectively.
Liquidity decreased slightly with a totalof 278 million shares worth a combined 5.2 trillion VND (227.2 million USD)traded in the two markets, down 13.1 percent in volume and 3.4 percent in valuecompared to the previous day’s trade.
Foreign investors increased buying localstocks with another net buy value of 85 billion VND on the HCM StockExchange.-VNA