An underwriter monitors stock trades at the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese shares fell on February 22 asincreased selling pressure during the ATC session dragged oil-gasand bank stocks down.
The benchmark VN-Index onthe HCM Stock Exchange ended in negative territory, dropping 1.02 percent toclose at 1,076.03 points, marking the first bearish session after continuouslyrebounding for three consecutive days.
“We saw an increase in thecolour red, which is considered a normal phenomenon for the market after astrong rally,” said Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC) in its daily report.
The southern market indexclimbed 2.59 percent to close at 1,087.15 points on February 21.
The minor HNX Index on the HanoiStock Exchange edged down 0.92 percent to end at 124.70 points on February 22.It surged by 1.24 percent to end at 125.85 points on February 21.
The UPCOM Index on theUnlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) lost 0.15 percent to finish at 59.28points, reversing from a rise of 1.5 percent in the previous session.
More than 266.4 millionshares were traded on the three local exchanges, worth 7.24 trillion VND (318.2million USD).
Declining stocksoutnumbered the gaining ones by 393 to 248, while 800 other stocks ended flat.
Large-cap stocksunderperformed, as 21 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in theVN30 Index suffered, pulling the large-cap index down 1.04 percent to 1,064.28points.
Among the worst declinersin the VN30 basket are Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), down 4.3 percent; Hoa PhatGroup Joint Stock Company (HPG), dipping 2.1 percent; Vietnam Dairy ProductsJoint Stock Company (VNM), declining 1.2 percent; as well as Vietjet AviationJoint Stock Company (VJC), down 2 percent.
Banking stocks were soldstrongly at the end of the day (only CTG and VCB increased). Petroleum stocksalso underperformed.
The stocks thatdrove the banking sector down included Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam(BID), Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) and MilitaryCommercial Joint Stock Bank (MBB). These bank stocks declined by 1.6 percent,2.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
The energy sector wasdriven down by PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS), PetroVietnamTechnical Services Corporation (PVS) and PetroVietnam Drilling Mud Joint StockCorporation (PVD), down 5.4, 4.4 and 6.3 percent, respectively.
Many large-cap stocks inthe Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) also suffered strong sellingpressure, including Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), down 0.4 percent,Vietnam Airlines JSC (HVN), losing 3 percent, Lien Viet Post Joint StockCommercial Bank (LPB), dropping 1.4 percent and Masan Resources Corporation(MSR), decreasing 1.77 percent.
“The correction of theVN-Index today was seen as a normal phenomenon after a streak of gains. Themarket is likely to continue experiencing a divergence on low liquidity in thenext sessions,” BVSC said.
“Investors can takeadvantage of the market’s corrections to open short-term positions in the nextsessions,” it added.
According to BIDVSecurities JSC (BSC), the market will continue to have technical correctionsbut the amplitude will gradually narrow before the formation of new prices.
“However, investors shouldnot be worried when the macro picture is still very optimistic and thefinancial reports for Q1 and shareholder meetings are coming,” BSC said in itsdaily report.-VNA
VNA
