A customers shops for Vinamilk dairy products. The company's stock declined 2.9 per cent yesterday. - Photo courtersy of Vinamilk

HÀ NỘI – Shares fell in the final trading minutes on Tuesday, dragged down by the slump of Vinamilk (VNM) and PV Gas (GAS), as investors remained sluggish amid rising escalation in the US-China trade war.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost morning gains and inched down 0.09 per cent to end at 986.29 points. It rose more than 1 per cent on Monday

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also edged down 0.03 per cent to close Tuesday at 106.28 points. The northern market index increased 0.5 per cent in the previous session.

Liquidity soared with a total of 234.2 million shares worth combined VNĐ9.9 trillion (US$425 million) changing hands on the two exchanges, up 22 per cent in volume and 135 per cent in value compared to Monday’s figures.

Unexpected trading in Vingroup’s shares (VIC) by foreign traders contributed largely to Tuesday’s liquidity growth. Foreigners bought net value of VNĐ5.8 trillion of VIC shares but the price remained unchanged at VNĐ117,530 ($5.04) per share.

VIC was the biggest stock in Việt Nam’s securities market with market value of VNĐ375 trillion ($16.1 billion) on Tuesday and topped the VN-Index’s heavyweight stocks with a proportion of 11.36 per cent.

The market’s turnaround was attributed to the slump of Vinamilk and PV Gas, two of the five biggest stocks by market value on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange. VNM lost 2.9 per cent while PV Gas fell 1.3 per cent.

Banking stocks which were the market engine in the morning also lost steam in the afternoon trade. Vietcombank (VCB) and Vietinbank (CTG) both turned heads and lost by less than 1 per cent by end-day. Other banks such as Techcombank (TCB), Sacombank (STB), Military Bank (MBB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) maintained modest growth of 0.3-1.1 per cent each.

On the gaining side were Hồ Chí Minh Infrastructure and Investment (CII), Masan Group (MSN), DHG Pharmaceutical (DHG) and FPT Corp (FPT) with increases of between 1 per cent and 3.8 per cent.

According to Trần Xuân Bách, a stock analyst at Bảo Việt Securities Co, the market will be diverged wildly among stock groups in the current uptrend.

“Cash flow is expected to rotate among several groups, including oil and gas, industrial zone, textile and retails, as well as several stocks that suffered deep decrease recently such as securities and real estate. Bank stocks are going flat but sending signals of short rises,” he wrote in a daily stock report.

In addition, domestic and regional investors sentiment is negatively affected by the US-China trade war which has not been cooled down as the US is putting pressure on Huawei's business, according to BIDV Securities Co. — VNS