Việt Nam’s benchmark VN-Index slid on Wednesday with modest liquidity as investors remained quiet due to lack of supportive information.

 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange inched down 0.17 per cent to end at 960.39 points.

 

The southern market index lost 0.38 per cent on Tuesday.

 

Trading liquidity was moderate with nearly 136.6 million shares traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ3.46 trillion (US$149 million).

 

Large-cap stocks weighed on the market development as the VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity, dropped 0.38 per cent to end at 869.58 points.

 

Nineteen of the 30 stocks in the VN30-Index lost ground, including real estate firms Novaland (NVL), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Vingroup (VIC), lenders Eximbank (EIB) and Vietcombank (VCB), and steel producer Hòa Phát (HPG).

 

Investors sought opportunities to withdraw from large-cap stocks while buying into smaller ones, MB Securities Co (MBS) said in its daily report.

 

According to analysts, as investors try buying small- and medium-cap stocks and ignore the large-caps, it signals the market is running out of gaining momentum and beginning its declining phase.

 

The stock market needs to accumulate at a certain level before rising again.

 

Technically, the VN-Index could consolidate in the 956-963 point zone, MBS said.

 

The liquidity was below the average of previous trading days and it proved selling pressure in the last two days was not high, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) said in a note.

 

The VN-Index fell mostly because buyers were showing some caution, SHS added.

 

Across global markets, investors were worried about the possibility of a worldwide economic slowdown as governments had released worse-than-expected economic data.

 

In addition, investors are clearly holding on until the next Fed meeting on July 30-31, at which it is expected to curb lending rates.

 

Confidence in the improvement of US-China trade relations faded and fears of US-EU trade tension rose.

 

The market may move sideways before making seeing growth with listed companies reporting their quarterly earnings, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its report.

 

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange inched up 0.20 per cent to finish at 103.67 points.

 

The northern market index plunged 0.60 per cent on Tuesday.

 

Nearly 19.7 million shares were traded on the northern stock exchange, worth VNĐ343.3 billion. — VNS