Liquidity shrinks to five-month low
By Phuong Thao - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – As investors remained pessimistic on the market outlook, bearish sentiment continued to drag stock prices down on Wednesday, marking the third losing session in a row while liquidity tumbled to a five-month low. The VN-Index lost 2.36 points, or 0.57%, against the day earlier to close at 410.73.
The market opened just in the black and rose several points to hit a daily high of 416.03 and then in a similar pattern to the previous day, it reversed direction to fall back towards Tuesday’s close by the end of the morning session. In the afternoon, dreary trading prompted the index to drop another point or two and finally closed at the lows.
Liquidity again was a huge disappointment. On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, trading dropped 36% in volume and 48% in value against the previous session to 27.6 million shares worth nearly VND355 billion.
Only 73 stocks gained grounds while 166 stocks closed in the red, including 19 stocks going to the ceiling prices and 53 stocks dropping to the floor prices. Blue-chips were mixed with several including VCB, CTG, EIB and VNM showing no change while others such as MSN, GAS and MBB declined.
Sacombank (STB) was the top mover in terms of both volume and value with around 1.7 million shares traded at a total value of VND37 billion. The VN30 Index slid 1.53 points, or 0.31%, to close at 485.42 with 13 tickers turning down and only five stocks moving up.
Foreigners turned net sellers although participation levels were fairly insignificant. They accounted for 8.3% and 9.4% of the market’s buying and selling value respectively.
The Hanoi market fell again with turnover shrinking to only VND225 billion. The HNX-Index lost 1.13 points, or 1.63%, from the session earlier and ended the day at 68.08.
There were 56 stocks rising while 171 stocks declined, of which 12 stocks went to the ceiling prices and 52 stocks dropped to the floor prices. Foreigners accounted for 2.3% of the buying value and 0.1% of the selling value.
According to Viet Capital Securities Co., it looks like investors’ confidence for risky asset has yet to recover as market news has been mixed. Investors have been numb to the recent offsetting news of gasoline price drop and electricity and water price hikes.
“However, with the Government’s reiterating at a periodic meeting that cleaning up non-performing loans remains a top priority and the central bank is finalizing a resolution, we remain hopeful that this could break the market out of its recent funk,” it said.