Weak sentiment sends stocks down

Market turnover improved over 10% in volume and 18% in value to 159.9 million shares worth VND4 trillion, but mostly due to large put-through transactions. Of the total 54.4 million shares valued at VND1.7 trillion changing hands via block deals, budget airline VJC reported 5.6 million shares worth VND705.6 billion traded.

The VN30 basket saw 18 stocks advancing versus 11 others ending the day down. For losers, dairy group VNM slid 1% at VND131,500 while housing developer VHM decreased 1.2% at VND82,600.

On the positive side, beverage firm SAB gained 1.2% at VND263,500. Meanwhile, lender TCB rose 0.9% at VND22,950 on matching volume of around 1.4 million shares.

Construction firm ROS again was the most actively traded stock on the southern exchange with matching volume of 4.7 million shares but it lost a slight 0.17% at VND29,950. Steel maker HPG followed with 4.1 million shares traded, shedding 1.5% against the previous day at VND32,000.

Among medium cap stocks, LMH, which is active in the petroleum and real estate sectors, shot up to the ceiling price of VND14,750 and extended its rallies to the sixth straight session. The firm reported volume of around 620,000 shares.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index moved flat at 105.32, with trading volume and value both shrinking by around 21% to 21.1 million shares worth VND244.5 billion.

Only four stocks saw a matching volume of more than one million shares each, in which lender SHB was the leader with 3.6 million shares changing hands. The bank closed the session up 1.4% at VND7,200.

PVS, a petroleum enterprise, was the second most heavily traded stock with two million shares traded, dipping 0.8% at VND23,700. Construction firm MST, meanwhile, climbed 3.8% at VND3,700 on volume of more than one million shares.

BIDV Securities Company in a report said that gloomy trade on the two local exchanges indicated that sentiment remained weak due to the lack of supportive information.

Besides, investors were concerned about risks of global uncertainties. The Dow Jones on Wednesday fell to the lowest level since February 11 while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also hit their three-month lows.

However, a technical recovery is likely on the last session of the week, with the VN-Index expected to return to the range from 970 to 975 points, the brokerage firm said.