VN indices fall as pessimism prevails

Trading continued to be sluggish yesterday, pulling down afternoon indices on the two stock exchanges. — Photo nguoiduatin.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Trading continued to be sluggish yesterday, pulling down afternoon indices on the two stock exchanges.

Despite positive reactions from experts on the impact of Circular 36, investors still feared that the regulation would distress capital inflow. The circular stipulates that banks cannot lend more than 5 per cent of charter capital for stock investment starting in February.

Slower trading pushed the VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange down 0.94 per cent to close at 582.53 points and the HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange down 1.26 per cent to 88.02 points.

Almost 50 per cent of stocks lost value across the two boards, led by blue chips.

Major large-cap stocks like PV Gas (GAS), Vinamilk (VNM), Masan Group (MSN), Hong Anh Gia Lai Co (HAG), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) all declined between 0.5-3 per cent.

The VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, slipped 1.18 per cent to finish at 616.39 points.

Market volume was down 30 per cent in HCM City, totaling nearly 116 million shares worth VND2.02 trillion (US$94.8 million).

There were similar figures on the Ha Noi bourse: 56 million shares, worth VND823 billion ($38.6 million), down 20 per cent in both volume and value compared with Friday's levels.

Investors still focused on speculative stocks, showing interest in real estate companies like FLC Group (FLC), An Duong Thao Dien Co (HAR), Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) in HCM City and KLF Joint Venture Global Investment (KLF), PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) and Sai Gon Thuong Tin Real Estate (SCR) in Ha Noi. FLC and KLF were the two most active codes with 19 million shares and 11 million shares traded on each code, respectively.

Foreign investors concluded as net buyers on HCM City's market, picking up shares worth nearly VND31 billion ($1.5 million), but were net sellers on Ha Noi's market, unloading over VND3 billion ($141,000) in shares. — VNS