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Investor caution keeps market down
Prices and volumes were both down in Ho Chi Minh City Tuesday, with analysts predicting further pain in the upcoming days.
The VN-Index fell 7.26 points, or 2.31 percent, to 307.45 at the close.
Volume continued to fall, falling to 8.8 million shares from Monday’s 11.2 million. Losers led gainers by 135 to 13 with 23 remaining unchanged.
“The fundamentals have obviously been weakened,” said Hoang Xuan Quyen, manager of research and investment at Hanoi-based Tan Viet Securities Inc.
“First, listed companies’ earnings are expected to fall lower than forecast.
“Second, there is virtually no activity by big players like investment funds. Individual investors are the major players now, but they are very cautious given the economic stagnation.
“On the bright side, domestic investors are quite calm as we can see no sell-off of shares.”
Ken Tai Chee Ming, technical analyst for Singapore and Vietnam at Kim Eng Securities in Singapore, said the VN-Index would remain on a downtrend and may go below 300 points.
Foreign investors have been selling recently because they expected the dong to fall further against the dollar and so sold stocks to buy dollars, he explained.
They continued to be net sellers Tuesday, notching up a negative value of VND39.5 billion (US$2.3 million).
Software maker and mobile phone distributor FPT, Oil driller PV Drilling, and Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development Joint Stock Company were among the stocks they dumped.
Binh Dinh Minerals Joint-Stock Company, a miner and trader of metal ores, rose the most in a week, climbing VND2,000, or 2.9 percent, to close at VND72,000. The Binh Dinh Province
Party office registered to buy 413,000 shares to increase its holding to more than 19 percent, or about 1.6 million shares, according to a statement posted on the exchange's website Monday.
Global stocks
World stock markets tumbled Tuesday, dragged down by heavy losses the previous day on Wall Street after the US confirmed it was in recession and a raft of grim data suggested that worse lay around the corner.
A steep interest rate cut by Australia's central bank and fresh steps by Japan to tackle the credit crunch failed to soothe investor fears.
Stocks slumped in Asia, with Tokyo closing down 6.35 percent, Hong Kong sliding 5 percent, Seoul shedding 3.3 percent and Sydney losing 4.2 percent.
In early European trade, London was down 1.43 percent, Frankfurt lost 1.6 percent and Paris fell 1.41.
Thao Vi
Thanh nien, AFP and Bloomberg
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