A Vietcombank office. The bank's stock was among the must-buy items for proprietary trading in the first three quarters. — Photo vneconomy.vn

Securities companies earned a profit of VND1.66 trillion (US$71.8 million) from selling local equities in the January-September period.

In January-September, securities firms bought in a total of 1.1 billion shares and fund certificates, worth VND27 trillion.

They offloaded 1.26 billion shares and certificates, worth more than VND28.6 trillion.

Securities firms, through their proprietary trading units, recorded five months of net selling and four months of net buying this year.

In April, they offloaded a net value of VND1.9 trillion. In September, securities firms sold a net value of VND726 billion.

A popular target for proprietary trading teams was fund certificates of the domestic exchange-traded fund E1VFVN30 ETF, which they net-bought a total of VND362.4 billion in nine months.

Other stocks that were also on the must-buy list included Vietcombank (VCB), Viglacera (VGC) and Phu Nhuan Jewellery JSC (PNJ).

On the other hand, the must-sell list contained fund certificates of FUEFVND ETF, animal feed producer Dabaco JSC (DBC), petrol firm Petrolimex (PLX), consumer company Masan (MSN), Military Bank (MBB) and dairy group Vinamilk (VNM).

The harsh condition of the stock market not only forced securities firms to net-sell local assets but also triggered prolonged selling among foreign investors.

Foreign investors in the first three quarters sold a total net value of VND2.4 trillion worth of shares and fund certificates.

The benchmark VN-Index has fallen 5.31 per cent since the beginning of the year.

On the contrary, the minor HNX-Index has gained nearly a third in the same period and the UPCoM-Index has increased by 10.2 per cent. — VNS