Shares down as plastic firms slump
Vietnamese shares fell on both local exchanges yesterday as local plastic producers suffered from higher global oil prices.
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| PVC pipe is manufactured at Binh Minh Plastic Company in Hung Yen Province. Shares in plastic producers fell yesterday due to higher global oil prices, which were expected to boost production costs. — VNA/VNS Photo Hong Ky |
The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 1 per cent to close at 593.83 points, extending its losses for a second day.
Meanwhile, the HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange inched down 0.4 per cent to finish at 81.64 points, ending its two-day rally.
The plastic producer index fell 2.7 per cent as investors anticipated their production input costs will rise after the US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) jumped 13 per cent from Friday to trade at nearly US$42 a barrel on Monday.
The rise of the WTI price came after Saudi Arabia – the biggest member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – expressed its willingness to work with OPEC and other exporters to reduce output to remove surplus and boost prices.
Local plastic producers reacted in a bad way to that information. Binh Minh Plastic Joint Stock Company (BMP) dropped 2.9 per cent, Rang Dong Plastic JSC (RDP) fell 2.2 per cent and Tien Phong Plastic Joint Stock Company (NTP) was down 2.9 per cent.
Food and beverage producer Vinamilk (VNM) and Masan Group (MSN) continued to decline as investors sought to protect profits after strong rallies in each stock, Sai Gon Securities Corporation wrote in its report.
As a result, Vinamilk dropped 3.2 per cent and Masan was down 1.4 per cent, making the food and beverage producer index lose 2.4 per cent.
The General Statistics Office (GSO) yesterday announced the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in November rose by 0.07 per cent from October, bringing CPI growth in the past 11 months to 0.58 per cent, far below the target of 5 per cent set by the National Assembly.
The slow CPI growth rate resulted from recent drops in gas and fuel prices, which reflected in less revenue for local transportation companies, the GSO said. International Gas Product Shipping JSC (GSP) was down 1.3 per cent, machinery producer TMT Automobile JSC (TMT) fell 2.8 per cent, and automobile distributor Hoang Huy Investment Services Joint Stock Company (HHS) dropped 2.3 per cent.
Both local exchanges traded more than 221 million shares, worth VND3.33 trillion ($148.4 million), an increase of 8.6 per cent from Monday. — VNS
