Shares tumbled on Thursday on low liquidity due to profit-taking pressure, moving in reverse to regional markets.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 1.67 per cent to close at 943.11 points.

Liquidity remained low with about 159 million shares traded on the southern bourse worth VND3.5 trillion (US$80 million).

The index slid 0.10 per cent to close Wednesday at 959.13 points.

In recent days, the global market has been waiting for news of the Fed lowering interest rates and the United States and China’s agreeing a tentative truce to their trade dispute ahead of a meeting between leaders of the two nations at the G20 Summit this weekend.

Following the news, Asian markets recovered strongly. Closing yesterday, the Shanghai Composite Index (China) was up 0.69 per cent at 2,996.79 points, the Hangsheng Index (Hong Kong) rose 1.51 per cent to 28,647.5 points, the Kospi (South Korea) was up 0.59 per cent to 2,134.32 points, the Nikkei 225 (Japan) climbed by 1.19 per cent to 21,338.17 points and the Set (Thailand) increased by 0.64 per cent to 1,733.19 points.

However, contrary to movements in regional markets, Viet Nam's market performance was negative with the VN-Index experiencing the strongest decrease recorded in the past 3 months.

Pillar stocks suffered strong selling pressure, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) (-6.4 per cent), brewery Sabeco (SAB) (-3.5 per cent), Masan Group (MSN) (-4.1 per cent), Vietcombank (VCB) (-1.4 per cent), Vinhomes (VHM) (-1.9 per cent), Vingroup (VIC) (- 1.7 per cent), Bank for Investment and Development (BID) (-1.5 per cent) and Vietinbank (CTG) (-1.2 per cent).

In the opposite direction, some large-caps kept their upward trend such as Khang Dien House Trading and Investment JSC (KDH) (+2.9 per cent), Viet Nam Commercial Joint Stock Export Import Bank (EIB) (+ 1.4 per cent) and DHG Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (DHG) (+1.7 per cent).

The large-cap VN30-Index fell 1.43 per cent to end yesterday at 854.41 points. Performance was slanted with only 3 gainers and 27 decliners.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was down 0.96 per cent to end at 102.96 points.

Nearly 32 million shares were exchanged on the northern market, worth VND387 billion.

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), the VN-Index would test the support zone of 935-940 points, and a recovery could occur in this area.

Stock exposure should be decreased to 20-25 per cent of portfolios as short-term risks would tend to rebound.

Investors should hold off selling stocks as the markets fall, and instead take advantage of a technical recovery to lower stock exposure for short-term positions in their portfolios, BVSC said. — VNS