The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange saw sluggish trading Thursday after the Federal Reserve (Fed) hiked its benchmark interest rates by 0.75 percentage points for the fourth time in a row.
Closing the session, VN-Index, which tracks the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange's (HoSE) performance, decreased 3.38 points or 0.33% to 1,019.81. Trading value plunged to VND7,870 billion ($516.5 million), marking the fourth consecutive declining sessions.
The major bourse had 166 gainers and 274 losers. VN30-Index, which features 30 largest cap stocks on the HoSE, fell 1.38 points or 0.13 percent to 1,023.8.
Steel stocks remained attention-grabbing following the release of their poor Q3 business results. While HSG of Hoa Sen Group and NKG of Steel JSC experienced a decline of about 4%, HPG of steel giant Hoa Phat dropped 1%, showing an eased selling pressure.
HPG's trading value decreased compared to the previous sessions, with more than 20 million shares changing hands. However, selling pressure from foreign investors continued as they net sold more than 3.4 million HPG shares.
Some real estate and banking stocks showed bad performance during the session, with NVL of Novaland hitting its floor price. Others like PDR, HDB, VJC, ACB, BID of Phat Dat Real Estate Development JSC, HDBank, Vietjet Air, Asia Commercial Bank and BIDV bank, respectively, lost 2-3.6%.
Retail stocks were the most active, with MSN of Masan Group and MWG of Mobile World Investment Corporation gaining 5.4% and 3.1%, respectively.
Construction and logistics stocks also supported the market, with HBC of Hoa Binh Construction Corporation hitting its ceiling price, C4G of CIENCO 4 Group gaining 5%, GMD and MHC of logistics firms Gemadept and MHC enjoying a rise of 3%.
Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of over VND200 billion ($8 million), mainly purchasing VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, VNM of Vinamilk and MSN.
HNX-Index on the Hanoi bourse was down by 0.92 points or 0.43% to 210.74, while the UpCOM-Index on the unlisted public company market dropped 0.35 points or 0.46% to 75.66.