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Market at three-year low amid panic
Ho Chi Minh City stocks lost further ground Thursday as investor confidence was shattered by the fact that the market has plummeted to its lowest level in three years.
The VN-Index lost 8.2 points, or 2.6 percent, to close at 303.54, the lowest since November 24, 2005. Of the index members, 22 advanced, 137 declined, and eight were unchanged.
“Investors are weary now as the market declined to its lowest level in three years,” Bloomberg quoted Ngo Tuan, deputy director of Hanoi-based Kim Long Securities Corp. as saying. “The problem is that there is no clear-cut explanation for the downtrend as we have not got any bad news about the economy recently. The US market, which influences the index, has also recovered.
“Foreigners were net sellers and that pulled down the index. It may be too negative to talk about 200 points in the near future but it is almost impossible to understand the market at the moment.”
Foreign investors notched up a negative figure of VND65 billion (US$4 million).
Sentiment on the Hanoi stock exchange was also nervous as the HaSTCIndex continued to fall below the 100-point mark.
The index, a gauge of 161 firms listed on the Hanoi Securities Trading Center, closed at 97.61 points, showing a decline of 1.96 percent from Wednesday.
Nguyen Hai Son, a broker at FPT Securities Co., said foreigners’ heavy sell-off and the fact that no institutional investors participated in the market sank stocks.
Foreign players bought for a mere VND1.79 billion while selling stocks worth VND17.57 billion.
Hoang Uy
Thanh nien
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