Sell-off pushes down stocks again

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost nearly 10 points or 1.58 per cent to close yesterday at 615.80 points.- File Photo

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost nearly 10 points or 1.58 per cent to close yesterday at 615.80 points.

Blue chips were again the main drags. Among the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, 22 stocks declined while only six advanced. Gains by Vietcombank (VCB), Masan Group (MSN), Hoang Anh Gia Lai Co (HAG) and Sacombank (STB) helped cushion the decline.

The VN30 fell 0.91 per cent to end at 659.63 points. Oil and gas-related shares ended their winning streak as stocks like PetroVietnam Engineering Consultancy Co (PVE), PetroVietnam Drilling Mud Corp (PVC) and Petrovietnam - Nghe An Investment & Trading Co (PXA) dropped to the floor under heavy selling pressure.

Liquidity remained high with nearly 180 million shares worth VND3.57 trillion (US$169 million) traded by the end of the session.

FLC Group (FLC) secured the position of the most active share on the southern bourse with more than 17 million shares traded, but the share price sank 2.5 per cent to VND11,700 ($0.55) per share.

Analysts at FPT Securities Co said the market was seeing a correction as investors continued to sell shares to realise cash profits after a very long winning streak that sent the VN-Index to a more than six-year high.

Rising bad debts also overshadowed the stock market, with nonperforming loans climbing to 4.11 per cent in July from 3.61 per cent at the end of 2013, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also slipped 2.31 per cent to finish yesterday at 88.07 points.

Investors sold securities, oil and gas shares, which showed strong growth in recent months.

Market volume declined 20 per cent from the previous session, totaling nearly 113 million shares, while trading value fell 25 per cent to VND1.72 trillion ($81.5 million).

PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) was again the most active here on trades of 12.4 million shares, but their price dove 4.8 per cent to end at VND6,000 a share.

Foreign investors remained net sellers in HCM City, unloading VND72.3 billion ($6.9 million) worth of shares, but were net buyers in Ha Noi's market, collecting shares worth VND78.3 billion ($3.7 million).