Vietnamese shares struggled on Monday due to low liquidity and a lack of market support.

 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock (HoSE) exchange lost 0.07 per cent to end trading at 850.15 points.

 

The index had gained 1.1 per cent last week.

 

Market liquidity declined compared to the previous trading session and stayed below the 20-session average with more than 237.5 million shares traded on the southern exchange, worth VNĐ3.9 trillion (US$169 million).

 

According to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Co (SHS), low liquidity showed demand has been weakened in the current price range.

 

“VN-Index may continue to decline with the nearest support zone around 850 points,” SHS said.

 

Market breadth was negative with 153 gainers and 233 decliners.

 

The blue-chip index VN30, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, declined 0.06 per cent to end Monday at 791.54 points.

 

Twelve of the 25 sector indices on the stock market declined while the other 13 increased.

 

Declining indices included wholesale, insurance, information and technology, securities, retail, agriculture and seafood production, which all fell by between 0.3 and 1.4 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

 

Large-cap stocks such as Masan Group (MSN), Petro Vietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Mobile World Group (MWG), Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ), PV Power (POW), Sabeco (SAB), SSI Securities Incorporation (SSI), Vietjet (VJC) and Vincom Retail (VRE) all dropped, putting pressure on the market.

 

Some blue-chips managed to move up, supporting indices, such as Vinamilk (VNM), Vingroup (VIC), Vietcombank (VCB), Techcombank (TCB), FPT Corporation (FPT), Novaland (NVL), Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and HDBank (HDB).

 

Foreign investors were net sellers but with less value, to the tune of VNĐ83.51 billion on the HoSE and VNĐ29.93 billion on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange.

 

According to BIDV Securities Company, foreign investors decreasing net selling value was a positive sign for the market.

 

“The VN-Index is more likely to recover in the next few sessions and possibly approach 860 points,” the company said.

 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 0.84 per cent to end Monday's session at 117.21 points.

 

The northern market index had gained 3.06 per cent last week.

 

More than 52.1 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ620 billion. — VNS