HÀ NỘI – Shares continued last week’s decline yesterday on the two national stock exchanges as traders continued to sell riskier assets on fears of a further decline on the back of untamed selling by foreign traders.

The benchmark VN-Index, a measure of 319 stocks on the HCM Stock Exchange, edged down 0.74 per cent to close at 660.2 points. It slipped 1.6 per cent last week.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index tracking 375 stocks decreased 0.9 per cent to stand at 80.5 points. The gauge decreased 0.2 per cent in the previous week.

Overall market condition was negative, with 260 of total 691 stocks down while 157 advanced. The other 277 stocks closed flat.

Large-cap stocks were on the defensive with 17 of the top 30 largest shares by market capitalisation on the main bourse in HCM City losing value, and only 8 gaining.

The biggest oil listed stock PV Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells Service (PVD), Sacombank (STB), FLC Faros Construction Corp (ROS) and HCM City Infrastructure Investment (CII) all slipped by more than 2 per cent.

Big lenders such as Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB), BIDV (BID) decreased between 0.6 per cent and 1.1 per cent.

The db x-trackers FTSE Vietnam ETF late last week announced it was adding CII to its FTSE Vietnam Index in the last quarter of this year and removing four stocks -- Sacombank (STB), Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agricultura (HNG), auto dealer Hoang Huy Investment Services (HHS) and PetroVietNam Low Pressure Gas Distribution (PGD).

Except for HNG that increased marginally, other stocks tumbled.

According to analysts at Investment Vietnam Securities Co, the market often experiences declines in the last month of the year, but would unlikely fall further as share prices are now at bargain level.

“If removing the impact of ROS, the VN-Index was only around 630 points. Besides, the price-earnings ratio (P/E) of the Vietnamese stocks is now at just 15, lower than the peak of 16.5 in the past rally,” analysts wrote in a note.

Declining liquidity in recent sessions indicated that selling pressure was reduced, they added.

Liquidity increased yesterday with nearly 225 million shares worth a combined VNĐ3.6 trillion (US$158.6 million) traded in the two markets, up 32.2 per cent in volume and 11.5 per cent in value compared to last week’s averages.

Foreign investors reduced their net sells yesterday to VNĐ21 billion on the two exchanges. They were responsible for a total net sell value of VNĐ685.5 billion last week. – VNS