VN-Index drops 8 points amid liquidity decline

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index fell 7.93 points, or 0.67%, to close at 1,172.56 on Wednesday due to increased selling pressure.

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index fell 7.93 points, or 0.67%, to close at 1,172.56 on Wednesday due to increased selling pressure.

The trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), represented by the index, reached nearly VND17.2 trillion ($722 million), a 20.7% drop from the previous session.

The major bourse saw up to 281 losers and 176 gainers, with 747 million shares changing hands.

Blue chips were the main force dragging down the VN-Index as their VN30-Index lost 10.54 points to 1,182.97, with 21 out of 30 tickers declining.

The VN-Index fell 7.93 points to close at 1,172.56 on August 23, 2023. Photo by The Investor/Trong Hieu.

The highlight of the session was Vingroup's VIC. This ticker hit its ceiling price after at-the-opening (ATO) following an over 110% expansion of its electric vehicle maker VinFast’s VFS on Nasdaq, becoming the main driving force pulling the VN-Index up at the beginning of the session. However, at the end, the increased selling pressure made this stock increase only 0.8%.

Besides VIC, GAS of PV Gas, VNM of Vinamilk, GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group, and TCB of Techcombank closed in the green.

STB of Sacombank was the biggest loser among blue-chips, losing nearly 4%. In addition, POW of PV Power dropped 3.5%, VCB of Vietcombank 2.4%, and HPG of steel giant Hoa Phat 1.91%.

In the mid-cap group, steel and real estate stocks continued to decline. In contrast, some construction, building materials or seaport stocks drew much attention from investors.

Foreign investors were net sellers on the HoSE for the second session to the tune of over VND550 billion ($23.1 million). They mainly net sold HPG, STB, VPB of VPBank, SSI of Saigon Securities and VND of VNDirect Securities.

The HNX-Index at the Hanoi Stock Exchange went down 1.58 points to 238.07, while the UPCoM-Index at the Unlisted Public Companies Market inched down 0.12 points to 89.39.