Vietnamese shares ended this week down following the conclusion of two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) the third-quarter portfolio restructuring on Friday that drowned many large-caps.
Investors’ focus was shifted to the at-the-close session when the two ETFs, FTSE ETF and V.N.M ETF, completed their portfolio restructuring.
During the process, the funds decided to cut their proportions of some Vietnamese shares, prompting them to fall sharply.
The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged down 0.65 per cent to end trading at 912.26 points, totaling a five-day fall of 2.3 per cent.
On Thursday, it dropped 0.11 per cent to end at 918.24 points.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also fell 0.08 per cent to 104.45 points. It dropped a total of 0.5 per cent on a weekly basis.
The index inched up 0.35 per cent to 104.53 points on Thursday.
Nearly 236 million shares worth a combined VND5.9 trillion (US$174 million) were traded on the two markets.
The VN30 Index, which tracks the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation, was down 0.45 per cent at 873.09 points.
Stocks code that were dropped from the funds’ lists included steel maker Hoa Sen Group (HSG), dropping 2.1 per cent; Dat Xanh Group JSC (DXG), falling 3.8 per cent; Vinhomes JSC(VHM), slumping 4.5 per cent; and dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), plummeting 2.9 per cent, putting pressure on the overall market.
The two funds also added some other shares, including Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agricultural JSC (HNG) to the portfolio of FTSE ETF, and Viet Nam Electrical Equipment Joint Stock Corporation (GEX) to the V.N.M ETF.
However, GEX prices remained unchanged while HNG dropped 3.4 per cent to VND15,700.
Global oil prices slumped but had little impact on Vietnamese oil stocks.
Brent crude futures fell 5.05 per cent to trade at $54.35 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $2.29, or 4.75 per cent, to trade at $45.88 a barrel.
Oil stocks like Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVC), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) and PetroViet Nam Coating JSC (PVB) still rallied, narrowing the fall of the indices.
The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) edged up 0.03 per cent to finish at 52.75 points. The unlisted market index gained 0.09 per cent to finish at 52.74 points in the previous session. — VNS