Jan 4: Vietnam Stocks Extend Loss, Liquidity Stays Low

The benchmark VN Index lost 1.16 points, or 0.33% to end at 348.84. Volume rose 13.3% to 25.4 million shares worth VND344.8 billion, including 5.8 million shares worth of VND101 billion changed hands in the put-through deals.

VN Index opened in the red with 1.1 million shares traded .Trading was sluggish and both buyers and sellers were cautious. Buyers showed some conviction today but not strong enough to gather steam, and VN Index could not escape the loss and stayed under 350 threshold though it closed off the low.

Market breadth was broadly negative. Among 307 listed firms on HOSE, losers outweighed gainers by 143-96 and 67 stocks unchanged and the rest untraded.

Among top 10 market caps, 3 fell (VCB, VNM, DPM), 4 rose (CTG, EIB, VIC and STB), and 3 unchanged (MSN, HAG, FPT ).

Property shares were mostly weak except for SJS which  managed to close near the ceiling price. Securities shares also legged the market while bank stocks were mixed.

Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank or Sacombank (STB) was the focus of the market today in terms of both volume and performance. STB share price hit VND16,000 today, setting fresh 52 week high with 2.85 million shares traded, closing up 3.2% VND16,000.

Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade  or Vietinbank (CTG) also another bright spot on the market as its share price hit the ceiling of VND17,800 today. Foreigners’ trading accounted for 61.4% of total CTG volume today.

Tan Tao Investment – Industry Corporation (ITA) ranked second with 1.3 million shares traded, closing flat atVND6,800.

Japan Vietnam Medical Instrument JSC. (JVC) was in the third place with 1.1 million shares traded, closing up 4.7% to VND17,900.

Ninh Van Bay Travel Real Estate JSC (NVT) ranked forth with 0.9 million shares traded, closing flat at VND2,000.

Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development JSC. (SJS) was in the fifth place with 0.7 million shares traded, closing up 4.2% to VND24,900.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX closed down 0.36 point or 0.63% to 56.43. Trading volume rose 33.35% to 19.6 million shares traded for VND161.7 billion of which 3.1 million shares worth VND50.2 billion were changed hands in put-through deals.

Market breadth was negative with 86 gainers, 133 losers and 55 flat issues.

VNDIRECT Securities Corporation (VND) was the most active stock with 1.5 million shares changed hands, closing down 2.9% to VND6,800 on average.

Hanoi Investment General Corporation (SHN) ranked second in the list with 1.4 million shares traded, closing up 2.6% to VND4,000 on average. This is the second consecutive session that SHN posted ceiling performance after a losing string of 14 days.

Kim Long Securities JSC (KLS) came third with 1.4 million shares traded, closing down 2.5% to VND7,700 on average.