Investors on the trading floor of Bao Viet Securities Company. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares dropped further on thetwo local markets on April 17 on investor concerns about geopoliticalconditions.
The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 1.1 percentto close at 710.83 points. Vietnam’s key stock index has lost total 2.8 percentafter four sessions.
The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange declined by 1.5 percentto end at 88.3 points, extending its fall to 1.9 percent for a second day.
Market trading liquidity remained high with more than 237 millionshares exchanged for 4.92 trillion VND (218.8 million USD).
All 20 sectors declined, with the finance-banking sectorperforming the worst. The banking sector index lost 2.1 percent while theinsurance sector and the securities sector were down 1.3 percent each.
Eight of the nine listed banks ended in negative territory,including Vietinbank (CTG), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam(BID) and Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB).
Vietinbank held its 2017 annual shareholder meeting on April 17,saying that its M&A deal with PGBank has not been completed because theState Bank of Vietnam requested Vietinbank to re-assess the conversion ofPGBank shares into Vietinbank shares.
Other finance stocks, such as Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), PVIHoldings (PVI), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM City Securities Corp (HCM)also suffered losses, as did the energy sector on the decline of global crudeprices. Brent crude was traded at 55.39 USD a barrel, down 0.9 percent from April15, and 1.5 percent lower in total from April 11.
Among local energy stocks, only PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) advanced,with a growth of 0.2 percent. The company announced at its shareholder meetingyesterday that it will pay a dividend of 40 percent for 2017 performance.
Stock indices declined further from Friday’s levels, proving thatinvestors are worried about the world’s political conditions, BIDV SecuritiesCorp (BSC) said in a note.
Higher trading liquidity compared to Friday showed that investors’low confidence kept them actively offloading parts of their portfolios toincrease the amount of cash, BSC said.
Today the VN-Index will test whether it can stay above the levelof 710 points and investors should keep close watch over companies whose stockshave fallen deeply in recent days, BSC added.-VNA
VNA
