Foreign selling pressure made a surprise comeback today, along with negative sentiment from the South Korean stock market, causing the VN-Index to plunge. The index struggled throughout the session but eventually closed sharply lower, shedding 9.42 points to fall back to the 1,240-point level. The market breadth turned decidedly negative, with 281 declining stocks outweighing 109 gainers.

No sector managed to stay in positive territory. Large-cap banks, securities, and real estate stocks bore the brunt of the selling. Vin stocks lost ground across the board, with VRE down 2.26%, VHM falling 1.96%, and VIC declining by 0.99%. Other real estate names like NVL, NLG, IDC, and PDR also suffered significant losses. Among banks, VCB stood out as the lone gainer, propping up the index, while BID, CTG, VPB, LPB, and TCB closed in the red. Securities stocks took a beating, with VND plunging 3.64% and HCM, MBS, VCI, SSI, VIX, and SHS all posting losses of over 1%.

The technology and telecommunications sector, usually a magnet for speculative money, witnessed a broad sell-off. FPT fell by 1.03%, and VGI declined by 0.97%. Eight stocks, including BID, VHM, CTG, and MWG, were the biggest drags on the market, wiping out 5.34 points from the index.

On the institutional front, foreign investors turned net sellers, offloading a net VND 711.5 billion worth of shares, with a net sell value of VND 649.9 billion in the matched order transaction. Their net buying focused on the Industrial & Business Services, Construction & Materials, and Food & Beverage sectors. HAH, MSN, TCB, KBC, VPB, SIP, DPM, VPI, SAB, and FUEVFVND were among the top stocks purchased. On the other hand, they net-sold Retail stocks, with MWG, FPT, VRE, VNM, NLG, CMG, HSG, HDB, and VHM being the top sold stocks.

Retail investors stepped in as net buyers, with a net purchase of VND 917.1 billion, of which VND 831.2 billion was in the matched order transaction. They net bought 13 out of 18 sectors, mainly in Retail. Their top purchases included MWG, VRE, VNM, VHM, NLG, BID, HDB, HSG, HCM, and MBB. On the selling side, they offloaded stocks in 5 out of 18 sectors, primarily in the Industrial & Business Services, Construction & Materials, and Utilities sectors. HAH, KBC, MSN, CTR, VPB, VHC, KDH, SAB, and TCH were among the top sold stocks.

VN-Index Plunges as Foreign Selling Pressure Returns

Proprietary trading accounts turned net sellers, offloading a net VND 394.4 billion worth of shares, with a net sell value of VND 347.6 billion in the matched order transaction. In the matched order transaction, they net bought only 1 out of 18 sectors, namely Automobiles & Parts and Media & Publishing. Top purchased stocks included SBT, CTG, FRT, DCM, NT2, VHC, HT1, DRC, VPI, and FTS. On the selling side, they offloaded Banking stocks, with FPT, VHM, HPG, MBB, VPB, VTP, VCB, BMP, TCB, and MWG being the top sold names.

Local institutions were net buyers, with a net purchase of VND 129.6 billion, of which VND 166.3 billion was in the matched order transaction. In the matched order transaction, they net sold 10 out of 18 sectors, mainly Financial Services. Top sold stocks included MSN, TCB, HCM, BID, MBB, GVR, CII, HAH, SSI, and MWG. Their net buying focused on the Information Technology sector, with FPT, VCB, HPG, VCI, KDH, CTR, ACB, VIB, KBC, and VHC being the top purchases.

Block trading value reached VND 2,312.9 billion, a decrease of 46.9% from the previous session, contributing 14.7% to the total trading value.

Notably, there was a large block trade in VHM, with over 10.6 million shares worth VND 434.4 billion changing hands between individual investors.

Individual investors also participated in block trades involving Banking stocks (LPB, EIB, HDB, STB), large-cap stocks (FPT, VIC), and EVF.

In terms of sector allocation, cash flow allocation increased in Real Estate, Securities, Chemicals, Food & Beverage, Retail, Software & IT Services, and Warehousing & Logistics, while it decreased in Banking, Construction, Oil & Gas Equipment & Services, Water Transport, and Airlines.

Specifically, in the matched order transaction, cash flow allocation increased in the mid-cap sector (VNMID) while decreasing in the large-cap (VN30) and small-cap (VNSML) sectors.