Shares end three-day rally on fears of volatility

This was the second fall of the VN-Index in the past two weeks. The southern market index has expanded more than  四 per cent this month. — Photo thoibaonganhang.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares declined for the first time in the last four trades as investors still kept a cautious view on the market outlook amid global volatility following the US-China trade tension.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged down 0. 四 四 per cent on Thursday, closing at  一, 一 六 七.0 三 points, after advancing  一. 六 per cent in the previous three days.

This was the second fall of this index in the past two weeks. The southern market index has expanded more than  四 per cent this month.

The trading volume continued to decrease with more than  一 八 五 million shares being exchanged, down  一 一. 二 per cent from Wednesday’s level, but value of trades increased  六. 六 per cent, totaling VNĐ 六. 六 trillion (US$ 二 九0 million).

“Continuous declining volume reflected a somewhat depressed sentiment of investors with the sluggish movements of the market in the past few sessions and thus disbursements were reduced to some degree,” analysts at Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Co wrote in a note.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index closed off 0. 五 一 per cent at  一 三 一. 八 八 points. Liquidity here also dropped to about  四 二 million shares worth VNĐ 七0 七 billion being traded, down  五. 三 per cent in volume and  一 五. 五 per cent in value compared with Wednesday’s figures.

Large caps, which were used to be the market boost, diverged largely yesterday.

Big losers included dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), down  一. 九 per cent; lenders BIDV (BID) and Vietinbank (CTG), down  一. 二 per cent and 0. 六 per cent, respectively; FLC Faros Construction (ROS), down  六. 七 per cent; Hậu Giang Pharmaceutical (DHG), down  三. 八 per cent; and budget airline Vietjet (VJC), down  一. 三 per cent.

The market was cushioned by growth of steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and FPT Corp (FPT), each up more than  一 per cent; Vietcombank (VCB), up 0. 七 per cent; real estate conglomerate VinGroup (VIC), up 0. 四 per cent; and HDBank (HDB), up  一. 二 per cent.

According to MB Securities Co, caution is necessary in the current context of rising volatility on the global markets, and we “may need a prevention strategy if the world stock markets witness unexpected slumps”.

Asian and US stocks declined for a second day on Thursday over fears China could target a broad range of US businesses if trade spat worsens.

Foreign investors turned heads selling out Vietnamese shares yesterday, offloading net sell value of VNĐ 九 八 billion on the HCM City’s bourse but they remained net buyers on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange for a modest value of more than VNĐ 八 billion. — VNS