Seafood stocks rally amid VN-Index fall

Stocks of some industries with bright growth outlook like seafood attracted cash flows on Thursday though the benchmark VN-Index dropped 8.19 points, or 0.76%, to 1,064.03.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), represented by the VN-Index, saw nearly 474 million shares changing hands for nearly VND9.22 trillion ($391.26 million), down 8% from the previous session, with 217 losers and 178 gainers.

Among the seafood tickers, CMX of CAMIMEX Group, ANV of Nam Viet Corp, ACL of Cuu Long Fish JSC, and IDI of I.D.I International Development & Investment Corp hit their ceiling prices with no sellers.

Two big giants, VHC of Vinh Hoan Corp and MPC of Minh Phu Seafood Corporation, gained 4% and 2.3% respectively.

Top broker VnDirect assessed that the reopening of China will be one of the biggest driving forces supporting the export growth of Vietnamese seafood producers in 2023.

Green also covered other groups like oil and gas, garment and coal.

The banking group was the main factor for the market decline on Thursday as many stocks closed below their reference levels. In addition, the tickers of the Vingroup ecosystem such as VIC of Vingroup, VHM of Vinhomes, and VRE of Vincom Retail lost 0.4%, 2.8% and 1.1% respectively.

Foreign investors remained net buyers to the tune of only VND11.09 billion ($470,500) on the HoSE, a sharp fall from VND382 billion ($16.2 million) in the previous session.

They mainly net bought STB of Sacombank, HPG of steel maker Hoa Phat, HCM of Ho Chi Minh City Securities, SSI of Saigon Securities, and HSG of Hoa Sen Group, while net selling BCM of BECAMEX IDC Corp, VHM of Vinhomes, VHM of Vinamilk, and VIC of Vingroup.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi bourse rose 0.29 points to 210.91, while the UpCOM-Index on the unlisted public company market went up 0.82 points to 77.25.