People buy smartphones at Mobile World Investment's store in Hà Nội. MWG shares lost more than 5 per cent yesterday. — VNS Photo Mai Hương

HÀ NỘI — Shares continued to slide in HCM City but recovered in Hà Nội on Wednesday as liquidity decreased on widening divergence.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index inched down 0.27 per cent to close at 1,169.27 points. The VN-Index has dropped for four consecutive sessions with a total loss of 5.5 per cent.

The market breadth was positive, however, with 300 stocks rising, 196 declining and 68 closing flat. Divergence also widened with 125 stocks hitting the ceiling and 55 dropping to the floor prices.

Industries performing positively recently such as retail, information technology, fisheries and utilities declined sharply. Meanwhile, steel, banking and securities stocks soared.

In the red side, big losers included PV Gas (GAS), PV Power (POW), FPT Corp (FPT), Mobile World Investment (MWG) and top three pangasius exporters – Vĩnh Hoàn Corp (VHC), Nam Việt Corp (ANV) and I.D.I International Development & Investment (IDI) – decreased between 5-7 per cent each.

In the bright side, top 10 biggest contributors to the VN-Index included eight banks, one securities firm and one steelmaker. Techcombank (TCB) topped the list with the growth of 5.5 per cent, others such as VPBank (VPB), Military Bank (MBB), Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Vietnam International Bank (VIB), Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Maritime Bank (MSB) and VNDirect Securities (VND) grew between 2-7 per cent each.

Liquidity slipped as just 592.5 million shares worth VNĐ13.3 trillion (US$573.3 million) were traded, down 15 per cent in both volume and value compared to the previous session.

According to Viet Dragon Securities (VDSC), although the market still plummeted, it has turned into a state of tug-of-war as VN-Index has gradually approached the old bottom of around 1,160 points.

“However, liquidity is still modest in general, the cash flow is still hesitant and the will to regain is unclear. Hence, the market will need more time to retest the old trough of 1,150 - 1,160 points for the VN-Index,” said VDSC’s analyst Phương Nguyễn.

She suggested investors observe the support of large caps to capture short-term opportunities but they still need to be cautious and maintain a reasonable proportion because of an unclear bottom-forming signal.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index regained 1.8 per cent to close at 269.39 points after a three-day loss. However, liquidity continued to slide with just 75.5 million shares worth VNĐ1.4 trillion being exchanged. — VNS