Following yesterday’s abrupt sell-off, the market turned highly cautious this morning. At this point, the view that the market will continue to decline has completely dominated, causing a deep retreat in buying interest. The VN-Index fell as low as 1210 points, nearing the anticipated psychological threshold of 1200 points.
Investors have no reason to rush into buying at this juncture. Buy orders are mostly placed at very low prices, while the pressure to cut losses causes anxiety among stockholders. The breadth of the VN-Index was extremely narrow throughout the morning session, ending with only 72 gainers and 347 losers.
Due to the passive nature of the money flow and the concentration at low prices, the decline in stock prices was quite broad, depending on the selling intensity. Approximately 177 stocks in the VN-Index are down more than 1% in value, and their liquidity accounts for 61% of the total matched value on the HoSE.
Although the number of stocks experiencing sharp declines is significant, and they account for a large portion of the liquidity, the majority of this trading volume is concentrated in a select few. Specifically, out of the aforementioned 177 underperforming stocks, only 20 recorded transactions exceeding 50 billion VND. A mere 11.3% of the stocks account for 67% of the liquidity in this weakest group. This indicates that not all stocks experiencing sharp declines are subject to sell-offs; instead, the broad-based price declines are primarily due to buy-side orders waiting for extremely low prices and a small volume of selling orders setting the prices on the board.
The blue-chip group is facing the most evident pressure, simply because liquidity in this segment is typically the highest. FPT led the group with a decline of more than 1%, trading at 539.8 billion VND, a 2.24% drop; MBB decreased by 1.07% with 273.5 billion VND; SSI fell by 1.49% with 186.5 billion VND; VHM dropped by 2.61% with 170.7 billion VND; and MWG declined by 1.77% with 159.7 billion VND. The VN30-Index is down 1.03% with 5 gainers and 25 losers, of which 12 stocks fell by more than 1%.
Fortunately, the leading large-cap stocks haven’t witnessed substantial declines yet. VCB fell by 1.65%, FPT by 2.24%, CTG by 3.18%, VIC by 2.26%, and VHM by 2.61%, being the weakest performers. BID, GAS, TCB, and VPB are also in negative territory but to a lesser degree. HPG rose by 0.19%, VNM by 0.85%, and GVR by 0.64%, providing some offset to the index.
Nonetheless, the overall market this morning remained under significant pressure, at least psychologically, as there was little to no buying interest near the reference price. Sellers had to accept very low prices, causing the market to gradually decline. Although the downward momentum lacked the intensity of the previous afternoon’s fall, the certainty of the drop was high due to the absence of proactive buy orders. In the last 15 minutes of the session, more dynamic bottom-fishing signals emerged, but the ability to push prices higher remained minimal. A few stocks in the VN30 basket were “rescued,” including BCM, which recovered 3.67% from its intraday low, currently down 0.15% from the reference price; HDB, which rebounded 2%, now down 1.55%; SSB, up 1.4%, still 0.91% lower; TCB, up 1.55%, a 0.43% decline; and VHM, which climbed back 2.6%, still 2.61% lower.
Expanding to the entire HoSE, approximately 40% of the stocks that traded this morning recovered from their lows by 1% or more. These changes are still faint, especially given the widespread expectation for the VN-Index to reach more apparent support levels. Investors have valid reasons to refrain from bottom-fishing too early.
Among the 72 stocks that went against the tide this morning, there weren’t many notable transactions outside the blue-chip gainers in the VN30 basket. HSG rose 1.2% with 90.2 billion VND in matched value; POW increased by 1.14% with 61.5 billion VND; NVL climbed 0.89% with 51.8 billion VND; and DGW gained 0.72% with 43 billion VND, forming a small group of stocks with considerable liquidity.
