Prolonged caution pulls VN stocks for a third straight day

HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares contracted Tuesday as investors waited for a clearer market outlook amid the upcoming year-end holiday.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange dropped 0. 七 七 per cent to close at  九 五 四.0 三 points.

The VN-Index has lost a total of  一. 四 六 per cent since Friday.

Nearly  二 八 一 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ 四. 五 trillion (US$ 一 九 四. 四 million).

The Vietnamese stock market downsized Tuesday as correction continued in various groups of stocks.

Investors were cautious as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were completing the review of their portfolios and the futures were expiring over the next few days, MB Securities Co (MBS) said in a note.

Investors still wanted to run away from large-cap stocks while some of them looked for opportunities in mid-caps and small-caps, the company said.

The large-cap VN 三0-Index, mid-cap VNMID-Index and small-cap VNSML-Index fell between 0.0 四 per cent and  一.0 五 per cent.

Tuesday’s decline proved investors were cautious as there were only two weeks left until the market finished the rough year of  二0 一 九, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

Steel companies’ shares were the worst performing following the US decision to impose a tariff of maximum  四 五 六 per cent on Vietnamese steel products.

The decision was made on suspicion that steel outputs produced by Taiwanese and Chinese firms could be shipped through Viet Nam – a third-party country.

The top two steel stocks Hòa Phát (HPG) and Hoa Sen (HSG) tumbled  二. 五 per cent and  三. 九 per cent, dragging the building material sector index down  一. 七 per cent.

Other large-caps that declined included Vincom Retail (VRE), HDBank (HDB), SSI Securities Corp (SSI), tech group FPT Corp (FPT) and logistic firm Gemadept (GMD).

The VN-Index would keep moving up and down in the remaining days of the year between  九 五0 points and  九 六0 points, TCSC forecast.

Investors may find opportunities in the industries on expectations for positive yearly earnings growth such as banking, retail and real estate, the company said.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined by 0. 三 一 per cent to end at  一0 二. 九0 points.

The northern market index had rallied a total of  一. 一 五 per cent in December  一 一- 一 六 period.

More than  五0. 六 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ 三 六 七 billion. – VNS