Vietnamese shares ended down slightly yesterday, falling for a fifth day on both local exchanges as investors remained cautious towards the current market slowdown. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares ended down slightly yesterday, falling for a fifth day on both local exchanges as investors remained cautious towards the current market slowdown.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange and the HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange inched down 0.1 per cent each to finish at 649.30 points and 84.00 points, respectively.

The southern market index has totaled a five-day loss of 3.6 per cent and the northern market index has slumped 3.5 per cent during the same period.

Large-cap stocks on both exchanges were the main reason that drove the market down yesterday, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Corp (SHS) wrote in its daily report.

On the southern exchange, Việt Nam Dairy Products JSC (VNM) fell 1.3 per cent, insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) and Việt Nam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG) dropped 1.7 per cent each, and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID) edged down 0.6 per cent.

Large-cap stocks that weighed on the northern exchange were stone maker Vicostone JSC (VCS), Tiền Phong Plastic JSC (NTP) and Việt Nam Construction and Import-Export JSC (VCG).

VCS was down 1.3 per cent, NTP declined by 0.6 per cent and VCG plunged 5.7 per cent.

Mid-cap stocks such as Dream House Investment Corp (DRH), Trường Thành Furniture Corp (TTF) and garment producer Everpia JSC (EVE) continued to slide further. These stocks slumped between 6.7 per cent and 6.9 per cent.

Investors remained cautious and chose to stay out of trading as the market showed no positive signs and continued to decline, SHS said.

Cautious investor sentiment resulted in a sharp drop of market trading liquidity. Both local exchanges saw nearly 134 million shares in trading, worth more than VNĐ2.24 trillion (nearly US$100 million). These figures were down 27.6 per cent in volume and down 30.5 per cent in value.

Energy stocks declined after oil prices slid for a third day. London-traded Brent crude fell 0.7 per cent to trade at $45.38 a barrel, down total 3.2 per cent in the last three sessions. Brent has declined by 10.3 per cent since June 29.

On the other hand, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai JSC (HAG) and Hoàng Anh Gia Lai International Agriculture JSC (HNG) surged 6.2 per cent and 6 per cent after recent falls.

Yesterday, the central bank raised its reference mid-point rate by VNĐ7 to VNĐ21,888 for a US dollar. — VNS