The Vietnamese stock market experienced a widespread decline on Thursday, marked by weak demand and cautious investor sentiment. 

 

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell by 14.31 points, or 0.86 per cent, closing at 1,640.58 points. 

 

This marks a continued downturn as trading liquidity weakened, with the total transaction value on the HoSE dropping to just over VNĐ17.8 trillion (US$677 million), the lowest level since mid-June.

 

Market breadth remained in the negative zone, as the number of decliners surpassed that of gainers by 176 to 131. 

 

The gloomy market sentiment was evident from the morning session, where selling pressure quickly spread across key banking and securities stocks. After approximately 70 minutes of trading, the VN-Index hovered around the 1,650-point mark, but retreated further as the session progressed.

 

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, extended losses down 16.78 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 1,869.6 points. Up to 23 stocks in the VN30 basket ticked down, while only three finished higher and four ended flat. 

 

A rare bright spot came from the industrial real estate sector, where most stocks managed to maintain positive momentum. For instance, SONADEZI Chau Duc Shareholding Company (SZC) rose by 2.6 per cent, while Phuruco (PHR), Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corporation (KBC) and Becamex (BCM) all saw gains of over 1 per cent. 

 

The banking and securities sectors suffered the most, with six of the top 10 worst-performing stocks impacting the VN-Index coming from these industries, including VPBank (VPB), Vietcombank (VCB), Techcombank (TCB), HDBank (HDB), Sacombank (STB) and Techcom Securities (TCX). 

 

No banking stocks managed to stay in the green, with Sahabank (SHB) and Eximbank (EIB) dropping over 2 per cent and MBBank (MBB) adjusting around 1 per cent.

 

Conversely, the VN-Index found some support from select real estate stocks, notably Vingroup, which increased by 0.6 per cent with the highest liquidity on the market, exceeding VNĐ936 billion. 

 

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also decreased by 0.55 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 266.15 points. 

 

Investor sentiment was further pressured by foreign net selling, which amounted to nearly VNĐ1.1 trillion, up 32 per cent from the previous day. 

 

As the VN-Index seeks a balance point, Vietcombank Securities (VBCS) has advised investors to take advantage of any recovery phases to restructure their portfolios. 

 

This involves eliminating weak stocks facing strong selling pressure while looking for opportunities in stocks that show signs of successfully confirming a bottom after recent corrections. 

 

Investors are also advised to avoid chasing high-priced stocks to mitigate the risk of further corrections that may test the nearest support levels. — BIZHUB/VNS