Investors watch stocks move on the online scoreboard. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares on August 22 ended down as investors increased selling assets to earn profits after blue chips posted big gains last week.
The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange retreated 0.7 percent to close at 657.68 points, erasing a three-day gain of 0.6 percent.
The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange ended down 0.5 percent at 82.68 points to total a three-day loss of 1.3 percent.
Blue chips weighed on the major market as investors sought profits from those stocks’ recent gains.
Dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN), confectionery KIDO Group (KDC) and steel producer (HSG) were among the decliners.
VNM dropped 2.1 percent after rising 4.5 percent in the previous five sessions. VNM has surged 13 percent in the last three trading weeks.
KDC slumped 4.2 percent after it recorded a seven-day gain of more than 29 percent. KDC has soared nearly one-third in the last 10 trading days.
HSG dipped 3.9 percent to fall a total 6 percent in two sessions after climbing more than 10 percent during two trading weeks.
MSN pulled back 3.7 percent from a two-day jump of 13.4 percent.
Other large-cap shares such as Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) also declined from Friday’s closing prices.
BID has disappointed investors in recent weeks as the bank has reported an increase of 31 percent in its non-performing loan volume.
“Concerns over the banking system’s bad debt status have undermined the banks’ performances compared to the growth of the stock market,” Bao Viet Securities Co (BVSC) wrote in its daily report.
According to BVSC, the three bank stocks BID, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Vietinbank (CTG) have respectively fallen 19.9 percent, 11.6 percent and 8.1 percent since the beginning of the year while the VN Index has been up 13.6 percent.
“If those banks show no progress to lower their bad debt ratios, the prospect of the banking sector in the rest of year will remain negative,” BVSC said.
The central bank on August 22 raised its daily reference mid-point rate for local trading between the Vietnamese dong and the US dollar by 19 VND to 21,875 VND for a dollar.
Nearly 146.5 million shares worth 2.58 trillion VND were exchanged, a decrease of a quarter from last week’s daily trading value.-VNA
