VN-Index drops after hitting 1,200-point mark

The VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), fell 3.51 points, or 0.29%, to 1,197.33 on Thursday after surpassing the 1,200-point threshold the previous session.

The major bourse saw 193 gainers and 262 losers, with 1.16 billion shares changing hands for nearly VND22.7 trillion ($959.1 million), up 26.43% from Wednesday.

The VN30 index, which tracks the performance of 30 largest cap stocks, went down 1.75 points to 1,199.68, with up to 17 tickers losing.

Banking stocks had the most negative impact on the market as VCB of Vietcombank fell 0.75%, BID of BIDV 1.37%, VPB of VPBank 0.46%, CTG of VietinBank 1.51%, TCB of Techcombank 1.05%, and TPB of TPBank 1.33%.

Meanwhile, real estate tickers became a magnet to the cash flow. NVL of Novaland recorded a trading value exceeding VND1.25 trillion ($52.8 million), the highest on the HoSE. It was followed by DIG of DIG Corp with nearly VND1.2 trillion ($50.7 million) and DXG of Dat Xanh Group with more than VND770 billion ($32.5 million).

This group also recorded many stocks hitting their ceiling prices such as DXG of Dat Xanh Group, SJS of Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment & Development JSC, NBB of 577 Corp., HPX of Hai Phat Investment JSC, and ITC of Investment and Trading of Real Estate JSC.

Most other groups like securities, manufacturing, aviation, energy and retail saw a divergence.

Foreign investors were net buyers on the HoSE to the tune of VND330 billion ($13.9 million). They mainly net purchased VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk and VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange was down 0.24% to 235.64 points, while the UPCoM-Index on the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.05% to 88.64.