Stock markets end in the red as blue chips sink

By the end of Monday afternoon trading session, Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index dropped 18.64 points to 970.07, a 1.89 percent decrease. This is the lowest the market has fallen since the VN-index crossed the 1,000 points threshold two weeks ago.

Overall, 78 stocks rose in value, 43 remained the same and 236 stocks closed in red. Smaller bourses did not fare better, with the the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) down 1.56 percent and 0.79 percent respectively.

The biggest losers were companies listed in the VN30-Index, which represents 30 stocks with the highest market capitalization. Overall, the index fell by 18.87 points to 893.40, a decrease of 2.07 percent.

Out of the basket of 30 top stocks, 27 fell, and the other three remained at the same level. The fall was led by stocks associated with Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate. Vingroup’s (VIC) shares fell by 2.87 percent this session, with their retail subsidiary Vincom Retail (VRE) down 2.3 percent, and real estate arm Vinhomes (VHM) down 4.71 percent.

The same trend was seen in other blue-chip stocks like state-owned PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), down 1.7 percent; major steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG), down 1.72 percent; as well as big commercial banks like BIDV (BID) and VietinBank (CTG), down 1.71 and 1.56 percent respectively.

Despite the market sinking, foreign investors remained net buyers on all three stock exchanges with a combined net value of VND230 billion ($9.93 million).

Foreign purchases were focused on bank stocks like CTG of VietinBank, VCB of Vietcombank and E1VFVN30, an investment fund that possesses stocks in all companies in the VN30 basket (biggest 30 companies on VN-Index).