HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese stock market dropped again on Wednesday as investors refused to buy in stocks when there was only two days left until the end of the year.

The benchmark VN Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.69 per cent to close at 891.75 points.

The southern market index has declined by total 7.23 per cent in the last 10 trading days since December 13, repeating the same losing streak it made in May 2011.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange inched down 0.16 per cent to end at 102.28 points.

The northern market index has totalled a four-day decrease of 2.15 per cent since last Friday.

The market decline could possibly come from investors’ worries about the instability of the world’s economic momentum, which was overshadowed by concerns over the US political conditions and the Federal Reserves’ interest rate increase, BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) said in its daily report.

In addition, the market is entering the stage of missing business and economic news as the year end is coming, with only two trading days left for the global markets, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Company (SHS) said.

Some markets in the North America, Europe and Asia have closed for year-end holidays, starting Monday.

“The decline of market trading liquidity signals that buying-in is now not an option for investors as it would be too risky for them,” SHS said.

On Wednesday, more than 175.4 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ3.32 trillion (US$145.8 million).

The trading figures dropped 43 per cent in volume and 46.6 per cent in value compared to Tuesday.

“Both individual and institutional investors are often unwilling to open their cheques and purchase more stocks during the last week of the year,” Ngô Thế Hiển, SHS head of market analysis department, said.

“They will concentrate on protecting their profits and earn more, that’s why the market trading liquidity declined quite sharply on Wednesday,” he said.

Across the 20 sectors, 14 sector indices advanced, data on vietstock.vn showed. The worst-performing sectors included insurance-banking, agriculture and consumer staple.

According to Artex Securities JSC, the VN Index and the HNX Index did not breach their short-term bottom line of 880 points and 101 points, respectively.

“But with weak market demand and negative global stocks markets, there is still a high possibility the two indices may continue their downtrend through the two thresholds.” — VNS