Heavyweights under heavy selloff

The VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange fell a marginal 0.28 point, or 0.03%, against the previous day at 969.79, while market breadth was neutral with 143 gainers versus 143 losers. The southern market saw 175.4 million shares worth VND3.7 trillion exchanged, down 28.6% and 26%, respectively.

Property group VIC, retailer VRE and fuel firm GAS were the biggest laggards, falling 1.3%, 1.35% and 1.1% at VND113,700, VND32,900 and VND97,100, respectively. VRE reported matching volume of over three million shares, in which foreigners net sold 1.38 million shares of the enterprise.

For gainers, real estate VHM, an associated firm of VIC, gained around 1% at VND89,900 and consumer goods producer MSN added 1% at VND83,100. Construction firm ROS was the most actively traded stock among large caps with 7.8 million shares transacted, rising 0.4% at VND32,550.

Notably, foreigners also net sold shares of steel maker HPG and property firms HPX and NBB. However, all these stocks advanced, adding 0.6%, 2.3% and 4.6% at VND31,600, VND24,500 and VND19,350, respectively.

Having hit the upper limit on Monday, agricultural firm HNG dropped 0.6% at VND15,950 on matching volume of 4.4 million shares. HAG, the parent firm of HNG, meanwhile, climbed 4.6% at VND5,870 and led the southern bourse by liquidity with 14.5 million shares traded.

Bao Viet Securities Company in its daily report said disappointing economic data and forecasts from the U.S. and Europe triggered a selloff on stock markets, putting pressure on Asia Pacific exchanges, including Vietnam, this week.

Besides, investors were watching the US-China trade talks, but the talks barely showed signs of improvement in the trade relations between the two biggest economies, it said.

Saigon-Hanoi Securities Company said the VN-Index lost it supportive level of 980 points and fell to 960 points during the session. Therefore, the short-term prospect of the index has become less optimistic and it may continue falling in the coming days.

In the next phase, there may be some technical recovery sessions and the decline is expected to weaken in the following days, the brokerage firm added.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index bounced back 0.44 point, or 0.41%, at 106.85. Trading volume fell 35% from the session earlier at 31 million shares while value declined 18.6% at VND476 billion.