Market plummets as liquidity surges to eight-week high

VIETNAM, May 24 -  

HÀ NỘI — Stocks were mixed on Friday as profit-taking after Thursday's rally weighed on markets, while market liquidity was at an eight-week high.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) finished the day at 1,261.93 points, down 19.1 points, or 1.49 per cent.

On the southern bourse, the breadth was negative as 275 stocks ticked down, while 71 increased and 31 ended flat. Liquidity hovered above VNĐ35.5 trillion (US$1.39 billion), an increase of 52 per cent from the previous session.

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE by market capitalisation, also dropped 21.3 points, or 1.63 per cent, down to 1,283.46 points. The number of decliners surpassed gainers in the VN30 basket by 25 to four, with one stock ending flat.

Large-cap stocks in the technology, banking and manufacturing sectors led the market's downturn, with FPT Corporation (FPT) posting the biggest fall in market capitalisation of 4.07 per cent, contributing to a decrease of 1.7 points in the VN-Index.

Banking stocks also saw poor performance on Friday. Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB) declined 0.88 per cent, Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG) fell 2.26 per cent, and Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) tumbled 2.7 per cent.

Losses were capped by gains in some pillar stocks, led by Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR), which was up over 2.5 per cent. Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) also increased by 2.81 per cent, and Vietnam Airlines JSC (HVN) rose 2.11 per cent.

The Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) index also finished lower on Friday, declining 2.1 per cent to 241.72 points. The reversal ended a sixteen-day upward trend.

During the session, more than VNĐ3.1 trillion worth of shares were traded, equivalent to a trading volume of more than 148 million shares on the northern market.

Foreign investors also applied significant pressure in the afternoon when they continued to net sell another VNĐ784.6 billion of stocks in the VN-Index. This morning, the bloc discharged a net sale of VNĐ739.5 billion. At the close of the day, HoSE alone saw VNĐ1.5 trillion net sold, while shares in the VN30 basket were net sold at nearly VNĐ1.2 trillion.

Since the beginning of May, foreign investors have had three sessions in which trillions of Vietnamese Đồng were net sold from the HoSE. Generally, since the beginning of the month, about VNĐ8.9 trillion has been net sold. — VNS