The strong profit-taking pressure on many securities and bank stocks prompted the VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange to fall slightly today, December 30, ending its three consecutive winning sessions.
With 228 winning stocks and 212 losing ones, the benchmark index closed the day down 1.95 points, or 0.18%, to 1,097.54 points. Trading volume ebbed slightly to 677 million shares while value declined by 7% to VND13.47 trillion against the previous session. There were 57.2 million shares worth nearly VND1.58 trillion traded in block deals.
After the strong gain in previous sessions, the profit-taking pressure pushed many securities stocks into the red today. CTS, HCM, AGR and VND suffered the steepest decline, closing down 3.9% to VND14,800, 1.91% to VND30,750, 1.87% to VND8,390 and 1.34% to VND29,400, respectively. Besides, SSI fell by 0.63% to VND31,500 and FTS lost 0.32% to end at VND15,800.
VCI was the only securities stock that gained ground, up 1.82% to VND55,800.
The profit-taking pressure also made a number of bank stocks such as VCB, BID, MBB and HDB shrink. Some other bank stocks such as TCB, VPB, STB, VIB and CTG advanced, but by only approximately 0.5%.
STB led the southern bourse by liquidity with more than 35.8 million shares changing hands. Property developer FLC came second with 22.5 million shares traded, closing the day up 3% to VND4,480.
Another outstanding cash magnet was industrial zone developer ITA, which had over 20 million shares traded. However, ITA declined by 2.93% to VND6,950.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost a fractional 0.08%, or 0.16 point, to end at 196.94 points, with 111 winning stocks and 90 losers. There were 113 million shares worth nearly VND1.2 trillion changing hands.
Some of the main drags included securities company SHS, port operator PHP and lender SHB, which were down 2.94%, 2% and 1.16%, respectively.
In contrast to the southern market, many securities stocks on the northern market such as BVS and WSS gained ground. VIG, IVS and PSI even shot up to the ceiling prices.
Trading and food service firm KLF soared by 4.76% to VND2,200 and led the northern bourse by liquidity with 11.2 million shares changing hands. Property group HUT came second with 10.2 million shares traded. However, HUT fell by 2.17% to VND4,500.
