Shares fall on investor pessimism

Investors follow market movements at ACB Securities Ltd Co’s headquarters in Hà Nội. — VNS Photo Việt Thanh

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares nosedived on Thursday as investors remained pessimistic over the short-term market prospects while a bottom pickup near the day-end would not mean better sessions ahead for the stock market.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange tumbled  三. 三 二 per cent, or nearly  三 六 points, to end at  一,0 四 四. 八 六 points. The southern market index had gained 0. 三 七 per cent to close at  一,0 八0. 七 四 points on Tuesday.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange lost  四. 九 per cent to close at  一 二0. 一 二 points, after gaining 0. 一 三 per cent on Tuesday.

The stock market was shut on Wednesday on the occasion of the death anniversary of the Hùng kings - the  一0th day of the third lunar month, which fell on April  二 五 this year.

Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC) said in its daily report that heavy selling pressure was seen across the board and increased in the last minutes. Therefore, the market may continue to drop on Friday.

The two exchanges were mostly covered by declining stocks, which outnumbered gaining stocks by  三 七 一 to  一 一 一, while  二 六0 other stocks were flat.

More than  二 六 八. 一 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ 七. 七 trillion (US$ 三 四0. 四 million).

According to Việt Dragon Securities Co (VDSC), “bottom-fishing” inflows appeared but failed to push the VN-Index into positive territory. It could be that investors’ hope for a recovery has vanished after two weeks of constant declines. In the afternoon session, overwhelming selling pressure took place.

A sudden drop in investor confidence hit  一 八 of the  二0 industries on the stock market and  二 五 of the  三0 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN 三0 basket.

The large-cap VN 三0 Index plu妹妹eted  三. 三 二 per cent to  一,0 一 八. 九 七 points, driven down mostly by financial-banking, real estate, retail and rubber stocks.

Among those sectors, banks, securities, property and insurance companies were the worst hit. The sector indices dived at least  四. 九 per cent each.

The stocks that performed badly included Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Military Bank (MBB), HDBank (HDB), Sài Gòn Securities Incorporation (SSI), Việt Capital Securities Joint Stock Company (VCI), Hồ Chí Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM), Sacomreal (SCR) and Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH).

According to BVSC, the market is likely to decline in the next session before rebounding next week. — VNS