Shares ease on low demand

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.82 per cent to close at 954.17 points.

On the southern exchange, 107 stocks advanced while 183 declined.

More than 138 million shares were traded on the bourse, worth VND3.9 trillion (US$167 million).

The benchmark index dropped 0.09 per cent to close Tuesday at 962.07 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased by 0.38 per cent to end at 103.56 points.

More than 27.3 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND295 billion.

The northern market index decreased by 0.04 per cent to end Tuesday at 103.95 points.

The market at the end of the session continued to worsen with selling pressure rising while demand was still weak, which resulted in decreases for a series of large-cap stocks.

Decliners included Bank for Investment and Development (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), Phu Nhuan Jewellery (PNJ), Vinhomes (VHM). VHM decreased by 2.3 per cent to VND80,000 per share. GAS dropped 2.4 per cent to VND101,500 per share. PNJ lost by 2.8 per cent to VND76,700 per share.

Global oil prices dropped, with Brent crude futures falling 98 cents to $61.31, while US crude lost 92 cents to $52.35 a barrel.

On the local market, oil and gas stocks like PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) and PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC) also fell.

On the positive side, the market received support from some individual gainers such as Mobile World Group (MWG), Kido Group (KDC) and HDBank (HDB). However, the rise of these stocks was not strong enough to help the market overall.

The large-cap VN30-Index was down 0.63 per cent to end at 865.42 points with only four of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity progressing and 25 stocks declining.

Insurance, banking, construction, stock brokerages, real estate, petroleum and mining, retail and technology were among the worst-performing sectors in the morning session.

Those sector indices declined between 0.34 per cent and 2.17 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) edged down 0.03 per cent to finish at 55.12 points. The unlisted market index gained 0.55 per cent to finish at 55.13 points in the previous session.