Trading was lackluster this morning, mainly due to investors’ reluctance to buy, with sell-side orders gradually pushing prices down. Except for the first few minutes when the VN-Index was slightly positive, the rest of the session saw a continuous downward trend, ending the morning at its lowest point with four times as many losers as gainers.
Today marks the futures expiry, and caution prevailed after three consecutive losing sessions. The large-cap stocks failed to stabilize the market, despite VCB and VIC trading in the green. The number of declining stocks far outweighed the gainers in the VN30 basket (25 losers vs. 3 gainers).
The VN-Index opened at its intraday high, gaining nearly four points, before plunging to a loss of 5.61 points (-0.44%) at the midday break. The drag from the large-cap stocks was evident, and the overall market breadth also indicated selling pressure across the board. While the best breadth for the index this morning was 162 gainers vs. 71 losers in the initial minutes, it narrowed to 159 gainers vs. 127 losers around 10 am, then to 108 gainers vs. 185 losers around 11 am, and finally ended with just 67 gainers vs. 270 losers.
The VN30-Index closed the morning session down 0.42%, with only three stocks in the green: VCB (+0.33%), VIC (+0.24%), and ACB (+0.19%). All other large-cap stocks, except for the unchanged TCB, were in the red. Fortunately, the decline in these heavyweights was relatively modest, with HPG (-0.92%) being the biggest loser among the top 10 by market cap. However, eight stocks in this basket still lost more than 1%, with SSB (-2.1%) and GVR (-1.66%) being the weakest performers.
Looking at the broader HoSE market, out of the 270 declining stocks, 78 lost more than 1%, but only four had notable liquidity above 100 billion VND: MSN (-1.24%) with 216.9 billion VND in turnover, HDB (-1.11%) with 137.7 billion VND, DBC (-2.84%) with 122 billion VND, and HCM (-1.32%) with 101.6 billion VND. The total matched transactions on this exchange decreased by more than 6% from the previous morning, reaching just over 4,766 billion VND. Many stocks witnessed a sharp decline in conjunction with low liquidity, indicating a withdrawal of funds.
Apart from the expiry effect, the contraction in trading activity also reflected investors’ disappointment with the 1300-point region, as the same scenarios kept repeating. Without the ability to break through, investors, though not ready to “disband” their portfolios, lacked the motivation to buy more. Consequently, the market was left in the hands of sellers, and the extent of the price decline was at their discretion.
Stocks that went against the downward trend this morning mostly had modest trading volumes, ranging from a few hundred million to a few billion VND. Among the 67 gainers, 22 stocks increased by more than 1%, but none stood out in terms of liquidity. While YEG, HVH, PVP, MSH, TIP, and NO1 saw significant price moves, their turnover was only in the range of a few billion VND, with YEG’s 13.7 billion VND being the highest. This level of liquidity does not guarantee the reliability of the prices due to the low participation.
Foreign investors continued their substantial net selling on HoSE, withdrawing another 288.8 billion VND this morning. This was the fourth consecutive session of net selling exceeding 100 billion VND. While no single stock experienced a sudden surge in selling, the selling was spread across numerous stocks. Notable stocks included HDB (-48.3 billion VND), VHM (-27.2 billion VND), HPG (-24.5 billion VND), and DBC (-20.1 billion VND). On the buying side, STB stood out with a net purchase of 72.3 billion VND. This consecutive net selling has led to a record-breaking week, marking the fourth consecutive week of net outflows.
The VN-Index ended the morning session down 5.61 points, dipping below the 1273.87 mark. The lowest close for October so far was 1269.93, and the intramonth low was 1264.65. Thus, the index has retreated to just above its most recent short-term low, which had initially inspired hopes for a more positive market sentiment with the Q3 financial reporting season. However, those hopes have not yet materialized.
