VN stocks down for a fourth day

July 23, 2016 - 09:00

Vietnamese shares yesterday slid for a fourth day as the banking sector was the worst-hit industry on the market.

An investor at Sài Gòn Securities Inc’s trading platform. Local stocks were down for a fourth day as banks weighed on investor confidence. — VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng
Viet Nam News

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares yesterday slid for a fourth day as the banking sector was the worst-hit industry on the market.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 1.5 per cent to finish at 649.87 points. The southern market has gone down 3.5 per cent in the last four sessions.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange edged down 0.7 per cent to close at 84.07 points, totalling a four-day decrease of 3.4 per cent.

The banking sector took the lead in driving markets down yesterday as investor confidence was low during the trial of Việt Nam National Construction Bank’s officials, who caused a massive loss for the bank worth thousands of billions of dong, HCM City Securities Corp wrote in its report Thursday.

Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Việt Nam (VCB) plunged 6.3 per cent even though it reported a pre-tax profit of VNĐ4.27 trillion (US$...) for the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 35.5 per cent.

Other banks such as Việt Nam Import-Export Joint Stock Commercial Bank (EIB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB) were down between 1.1 per cent and 6.1 per cent.

Other financial stocks, including insurance companies and brokerage firms, also extended losses.

Sài Gòn Securities Inc (SSI) and VNDirect Securities Corp (VND) dropped 2.2 per cent each, and HCM City Securities Corp (HCM) lost 1.6 per cent.

Among insurance companies, Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) was down 0.8 per cent, Việt Nam National Reinsurance Corp (VNR) declined by 2 per cent and Petrolimex Insurance Corp (PGI) slid 1.1 per cent.

Energy stocks were also among the strongest decliners. PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Service Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Coating Corp (PVB) slipped between 2 per cent and 2.5 per cent.

Other blue chips on both local exchanges, such as Việt Nam Dairy Products JSC (VNM), property developer Vingroup JSC (VIC), Tiền Phong Plastic JSC (NTP) and Port of Hải Phòng JSC (PHP), all recorded losses.

On the positive side, some stocks that had fallen sharply became attractive to investors such as Bình Dương Mineral and Construction JSC (KSB), which surged 6.3 per cent from a three-day plunge of 18.5 per cent.

Investors traded nearly 221 million shares worth VNĐ3.72 trillion, an increase of 30 per cent from Thursday’s trading value. — VNS

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