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E Sea tensions keep indices down
Shares fell further yesterday afternoon as investors increased selling on fears of rising East Sea tensions between Viet Nam and China.
On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index widened last week's loss with a decrease of 4.68 per cent to close yesterday's session at the four-month low of 517.05 points.
Blue chips were the main drag on the market as 29 of the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity lost value. The VN30 declined 4.19 per cent to stand at 563.30 points.
Traders unloaded shares across the board as tensions on the East Sea, arising out of China's armed incursion into Viet Nam's territorial waters. Demonstrations took place in major cities to protest China's hostile act.
Investors also sold shares to avert risks of securities companies offloading shares pledged as collateral (margin calls) following steep declines.
Masan Group (MSN) was the only large cap bucking the trend with a rise of 1.1 per cent to VND91,000 (US$4.31) a share. Others, including Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG), Ocean Group (OGC), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and Military Bank (MBB) were bought strongly at low prices.
Real estate developer FLC Group (FLC) continued to be the most active stock, with over 8.6 million shares exchanged at VND8,000 per share, down seven per cent from Friday's close.
HAG came second with trades of 6.8 million shares but the share price dived 6.6 per cent to end at VND21,100 ($1).
The total market volume slipped 15 per cent from Friday to 99.3 million shares worth VND1.67 trillion ($79.2 million).
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 4.72 per cent to close at 70.69 points while the HNX30 also sank 6.9 per cent to 134.73 points.
Trading was sluggish with both market volume and value down 10 per cent, totaling 57 million shares worth VND505 billion ($23.9 million).
Foreign investors continued to collect local shares, showing their confidence in the market outlook. They were net buyers on both exchanges yesterday, picking up shares worth a combined VND244.8 billion ($11.6 million).
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