
Hanoi (VNA) - Shares slowed their decline on July 18 as banks recovered, butthe market is still exposed to short-term downward corrections on risinginvestor caution.
The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho ChiMinh Stock Exchange inched down 0.18 percent to close at 767.49 points. The keyindex dropped 1.12 percent on July 17.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, theHNX-Index was down just 0.04 percent to end at 98.6 points after a 1.8-per-centfall in the last session.
Blue chips remained on a downwardspiral as 22 of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on themain bourse in HCM City lost value, and only seven advanced.
Gainers included banks, with threeof the four largest listed lenders – Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID) and MilitaryBank (MBB) – increasing 0.1-0.5 percent.
Smaller banks like Sacombank (STB)in HCM City’s market, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB)on the Hanoi Stock Exchange picked up 0.8-3.4 percent each.
Industry-leading companies, such asPV Gas (GAS), VinGroup (VIC), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Hoa Phat Group (HPG),FPT Corp (FPT), Kido Group (KDC), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG)and Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) continued to slide.
Overall market breadth was negativewith 287 stocks declining, 159 rising and 264 closing unchanged on the twomarkets.
“Although selling pressure easedcompared to the previous two sessions, a reliable signal of a reversal has yetto come,” Tran Duc Anh, a stock analyst at Bao Viet Securities Company wrote inJuly 18’s report. He suggested investors maintain stock exposure at a moderatelevel and avoid raising it until the risk of a short-term decline is removed.
Liquidity decreased slightly with atotal of 292.5 million shares worth 5 trillion VND (221.4 million USD) beingtraded on the two bourses, down 12.6 percent in volume and 10.7 percent invalue compared to July 17’s figures.
Foreign traders returned net buyerson the two markets on July 18 after a short selling in the previous session,picking up shares worth a combined net value of nearly 86 billion VND.
On July 17, the HCM Stock Exchangeannounced it was adding shares of FLC Faros Construction Corp (ROS), NovalandInvestment Group (NVL) and brewery Sabeco (SAB) to the basket of the VN30,which tracks the 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on thesouthern bourse.
Threecompanies – Hoang Anh Gia Lai Co (HAG), Hoang Anh Gia Lai AgriculturalInvestment Co (HNG) and Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp (ITA) – were removedfrom the basket.
The new basket takes effect from July 24 to January 19,2018.
The VN30 has expanded 18.7 percent since the beginning ofthis year, outperforming the 15.6 percent growth of the VN-Index as of July 17.-VNA
VNA