Blue chips sell off drags VN-Index to two-week low

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index opened in the red and plunged nearly 14 points in morning’s session, then continued sideways throughout the afternoon.

It closed at two-week low of 1,485.52 points.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, rose 14.5 percent to VND30.12 trillion ($1.32 billion).

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 20 tickers in the red, with MBB of state-owned lender MB Bank falling 4.4 percent.

Other bank stocks, including STB of private lender Sacombank and TCB of largest private lender Techcombank, dropped between 2.2 and 4.3 percent.

Other losers included SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation, down 2.6 percent, and VRE of Vingroup’s mall operator arm Vincom Retail, down 2.1 percent.

Seven blue chip stocks gained, led by PDR of real estate developer Phat Dat, which rose 3.2 percent rise.

GAS of PetroVietnam Gas rose 1.3 percent, thanks to surging oil prices.

Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND1.06 trillion, the highest value in five weeks, with particular focus on HDB of private lender HDBank and CTG of state-owned VietinBank.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, lost 0.3 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 0.51 percent.