177 stocks gained and 142 lost on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based. Liquidity of order-matched transactions plunged to VND2.78 trillion ($120 million), one of the quietest trading sessions this month so far.
Gains in blue chip stocks slowed the market’s downward spiral this session, with the VN30-Index for Vietnam’s 30 biggest market cap stocks rising 0.19 percent. 15 stocks in this basket gained and 12 lost.
MSN of food giant Masan Group led gains with a 5.6 percent rise, followed by DPM of state-owned Petrovietnam Fertilizer & Chemicals Corporation with 3.5 percent, and HDB of private bank HDBank on 1.9 percent.
EIB of Eximbank is the only other private lender to have gained this session, up 0.6 percent, while four stocks of mid-sized lenders, VPB of VPBank, TCB of Techcombank, STB of Sacombank and MBB of state-owned Military Bank, all lost.
For Vietnam’s three biggest lenders by assets, BID of BIDV added 0.3 percent, CTG of VietinBank added 0.2 percent, but VCB of Vietcombank lost 1 percent.
The biggest losers this session were CTD of construction giant Coteccons, which lost 4.7 percent, followed by BVH of leading insurance firm Bao Viet, down 3.3 percent, and GMD of sea freight and logistics firm Gemadept, down 1.4 percent.
Meanwhile, HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and mid-cap stocks, added 0.1 percent, while UPCoM-Index for Unlisted Public Companies rose 0.49 percent.
Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of VND80 billion ($3.45 million) on all three bourses, with buying pressure mostly on VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk and HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group.
