Vietnamese shares tumbled on Tuesday as the market was running out of supportive news and investors were bracing for results of international meetings.
The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 1.19 per cent to end at 986.02 points.
The VN-Index rose 0.46 per cent on Monday.
Large-cap stocks were the major cause for the market’s decline as the large-cap VN30-Index fell 1.20 per cent to end at 877.92 points.
Only two of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket advanced while 23 declined.
Among declining large-cap stocks were real estate “Vin” firms Vinhomes (VHM), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Vingroup (VIC), SSI Securities (SSI), steel producer Hoa Phat (HPG), Military Bank (MBB), retailer Mobile World (MWG) and PetroVietnam Gas (GAS).
Large-cap stocks were hit by investors as they attempted to lock in profits after those stocks had gained strongly in recent weeks, Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities (SHS) said in its daily report.
The VN-Index had gained a total of 5.81 per cent in the last month on investors’ expectations for a good corporate earnings season, especially large-cap companies.
Strong selling also helped pushed the market’s trading liquidity up to more than 154.3 million shares being traded, worth VND3.66 trillion (US$157.5 million).
On Monday, trading volume was 147.8 million shares and trading value was VND3.55 trillion.
Foreign investors net sold VND177.4 billion on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange after having net-bought shares for eight straight days.
Foreign investors focused on selling shares of Vinamilk (VNM), Vietjet (VJC) and Hoa Phat (HPG).
In addition, investors in Viet Nam were kept on edge ahead of two key meetings this week, according to MB Securities Co (MBS).
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the US central bank Federal Reserve will have a two-day meeting. Global investors are betting a 76 per cent chance for Fed to cut its lending rates by 25 basis points.
US and China trade officials will also meet for the first time since May to discuss the way to resolve their trade tensions.
According to MBS, investors began to “sell the news” after large-cap firms started announcing their quarterly earnings reports.
Capital began to flow into mid-cap and small-cap stocks, proving investors were cautious and they were waiting for large-cap stocks to fall further as the market was running out of supportive news, MBS said.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.82 per cent to close at 104.43 points.
The HNX-Index has dropped a total of 2.18 per cent in the last three trading days since Friday.
More than 33.5 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VND430 billion. – VNS