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Shares tumble on high inflation
Stocks reversed two days of gains, tumbling yesterday on official release of November inflation data, which showed that consumer prices had climbed 0.39 per cent in a single month.
Shares tread water during the opening minutes of yesterday's trading before slumping significantly after about 9.30am, when headlines about the month's inflation rate appeared in the media. After signs of slowing since June, inflation began once again to heat up this month.
"This is the first time in a couple of months that investors have had a sudden reaction to inflation data," commented an analyst for the financial website vietstock.vn.
An investor of a Ha Noi-based securities company who asked to remain anonymous said yesterday that inflation in fact did not affect many small investors who had lost their direction and bought or sold largely based on rumours. However, some other investors at the same firm suggested that investors on both exchanges were wise not to sell yesterday as the market was in a consolidation phase. They hoped that new policies from the central bank, expected yesterday afternoon during the National Assembly session, would spur the market today.
Meanwhile, one investor blamed foreign investors for worsening the market.
"I think the authorities should quickly do something to fix this," he said.
Foreign investors were net sellers yesterday on both bourses, unloading a combined net of nearly VND54 billion (US$2.5 million).
On the HCMC Stock Exchange, the benchmark VN-Index retreated 1.75 per cent, closing at 381.78 points with only 59 codes adding value. The value of trades fell 15.4 per cent from the previous session to VND439.2 billion ($20.6 million) on a volume of 29.2 million shares. Of the 10 leading shares by capitalisation, only Eximbank (EIB) managed gains. Shares of real estate developer plunged to their floor price. Sacombank (STB) was the most-active share, with 2.5 million changing hands.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 1.34 per cent, falling to 61.27 points. The value of trades decreased by 23 per cent to a mere VND175.8 billion ($8.3 million) on a volume of only 19.4 million shares, while decliners outnumbered advancers by 171-62.
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