Investors turn caution after GDP data, liquidity falls sharply

A customer chooses Masan's products at a supermarket. The company's shares jumped 1.55 per cent on Wednesday, supporting the rally trend. — Photo courtesy of Masan

Stock markets were mixed on Wednesday with the VN-Index extending its rallies, but gains were capped as investors were more cautious after GSO had revealed data showing that the economy grew modestly in the first quarter.

The market's benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 2.04 points, or 0.19 per cent, to close Wednesday at 1,056.33 points.

The index inched higher, despite the fact that there were more stocks performing poorly, thanks to gains of large-cap stocks, and marked its seven days of the rally.

On the southern bourse, 128 stocks increased while 176 ticker symbols went down.

Liquidity fell sharply compared to Tuesday's trading day, of which the trading value of HoSE dropped by nearly 26 per cent over the previous session to more than VND8.3 trillion (US$353.4 million). The trading volume also reduced by nearly 29 per cent to nearly 461 million shares.

The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index also ended up. It added 2.63 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 1,061.45 points. In the VN30 basket, 14 stocks jumped, 14 declined and two stayed flat.

Meanwhile, on the northern bourse Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index slid 0.17 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 205.59 points.

Investors poured VND800.7 billion into the market, equal to a trading volume of nearly 58.1 million shares.

Statistics showed that the banking sector continued to lead the uptrend, buoyed by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)'s draft circular amending the Circular 16 on credit institutions' purchase and sale of corporate bonds.

Vietcombank (VCB), Techcombank (TCB), MBBank (MBB) and BIDV (BID) all posted positive performance, up 0.43-1.67 per cent.

Stocks, including Masan Group (MSN), Vinamilk (VNM) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG), also supported the bullish trend with gains of 0.48-1.55 per cent.

However, rallies were capped by losses in other big stocks, such as PV Gas (GAS) down 0.87 per cent and VP Bank (VPB) down 0.48 per cent.

Investors became more cautious after the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO) said that the country's GDP growth was modest in the first quarter. Specifically, GDP grew 3.32 per cent on-year in the first quarter, compared to the growth of 3.21 per cent in the same period last year.

Foreign investors also fled the market, ending the recent net buying trend. Of which, they net sold VND208.12 billion on HoSE and VND4.59 billion on HNX. — VNS