Stocks hit by sell-off of blue chips

The VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange closed the day down 0.91% to 988.48 points, with 207 stocks inching down and a mere 11 others rising. More than 165 million shares changed hands with a total value of VND4.2 trillion, up 23% against the previous session.

The volume of shares transacted in block deals was 12.84 million shares, contributing more than VND640 billion to the total trade value on the exchange.

The VN-Index almost hit 1,000 points before it settled at more than 990 points at the end of the morning phase.

The VN30 basket was attributed to the market pullback, with 22 stocks sliding. The large-cap dairy firm VNM fell 1.3% to VND135,400 per share, while property firm VIC and its affiliate VHM edged down by 2.2% and 0.8% to VND113,000 and VND93,800, respectively. Other major firms, including leading gas group GAS and brewery SAB, tumbled over 1.5%.

The most notable stock in the VN30 basket was construction firm CTD, whose merger and acquisition plan with Ricons was suspended, which put the stock under selling pressure. It saw 651,760 shares traded at the floor price of VND130,900 per share, down 7%.

One of the upsides was some lenders in the basket like VCB, TCB, VPB advanced slightly. Budget carrier VJC added 1.8% to VND112,500 thanks to news about a 55% increase in share dividend payment for 2018.

Strong selling also caused the HNX-Index of the Hanoi Stock Exchange to plunge sharply in the afternoon phase.

The HNX-Index plummeted 1.12% to 107.71 points, with 42.3 million shares changing hands with a total value of VND535 billion, rising 19.68% in volume and dropping 3.94% in value versus Monday.

The northern market saw 5.55 million shares transacted in block deals, totaling over VND130 billion. Of this, construction firm VCG accounted for some 3.3 million shares.

Only two stocks, construction companies VC3 and VMC, in the HNX30 basket slightly rose while the remainder mostly dipped or closed unchanged.

Some heavyweights faced sharp falls. Lender ACB fell 1% to VND30,500 while its fellow SHB declined 2.6% to VND7,500. Construction firm VCG inched down by 2.6% to VND26,500.

The fuel stocks that performed well on April 8 also came under pressure, including PVS and PVI which fell 4.3% and 2.5%. PVS was the most actively traded stock on the northern bourse, with total matching volume reaching nearly 7.8 million shares.