Vietnamese shares fell on Monday with investors disappointed and concerned by early quarterly earnings reports and the uncertainty of international events.

 

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange was down 0.57 per cent to close at 983.56 points.

 

The VN-Index lost total 0.83 per cent last week.

 

More than 200.3 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4.14 trillion (US$178 million).

 

The large-cap VN30-Index dropped 0.56 per cent to end at 914.00 points.

 

In the VN30 basket, which tracks the 30 largest shares by market value and trading liquidity, only nine stocks increased while 19 declined.

 

Investors on Monday tried to lock in gains following large-cap quarterly earnings reports that ended disappointing.

 

PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV Gas) announced that post-tax profit dropped nearly 10 per cent year on year in the third quarter. The nine-month figure inched up 0.6 per cent on-year.

 

DHG Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG) showed a Q3 post-tax profit loss of 15 per cent yearly and nine-month numbers slid 4.5 per cent.

 

Thành Công Textile-Garment-Investment Trading JSC (TCM) recorded an annual drop of 40 per cent in its third-quarter post-tax profit. After nine months, its post-tax profit had fell nearly 28 per cent year-on-year.

 

In the brokerage sector, SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) and HCM City Securities Corporation (HSC) reported yearly decreases of 44 per cent and 14.3 per cent in Q3 profits.

 

Their results in the first three quarters dropped 44.4 per cent and 50 per cent year-on-year, respectively.

 

Data on vietstock.vn showed 228 companies had reported third-quarter earnings as of October 19 with 197 companies being profitable.

 

But total revenue of those firms fell 3 per cent year-on-year and post-tax profits gained only 19 per cent. The drop in total revenue suggested local firms’ production was not as high as expected.

 

Shares in PV Gas, SSI, HSC, DHG and TCM either narrowed gains or lost ground on Monday. DHG shares lost 1.6 per cent, while SSI and HSC shares were down 1.3 per cent and 1.4 per cent.

 

Meanwhile, shares in PV Gas and TCM ended up 0.2 per cent each, down from their intra-day growth peaks of 0.9 per cent and 2 per cent.

 

Global markets also moved with anxiety about the possibility of a US-China trade deal, which received strong support from US President Donald Trump last weekend but was again in doubt on Monday.

 

Investors remained cautious about market conditions as they began seeking opportunities in other groups rather than staying with large-cap companies when corporate earnings were being revealed, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

 

The benchmark VN-Index may recover in the next session but in the short term, it would continue moving sideways with capital flowing into corporates with positive predicted earnings reports, the company said.

 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 1.39 per cent to end at 104.01 points after having gained 0.2 per cent last week.

 

Nearly 30 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ343.2 billion. – VNS