Shares declined on the HCM Stock Exchange (HOSE) on January 29, dragged down by blue chips despite rising demand on the southern bourse.

Investors follow securities markets at the Hanoi-based Bao Viet Securities Company.

The benchmark VN-Index on the southern bourse edged down 0.69 percent to close at 1,109.80 points. It ended last week at 1,050.11 points, posting a weekly gain of 3.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the minor HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange gained 0.42 percent to end at 127.35 points.

The northern market index finished on January 26 at 120.76 points and recorded a weekly growth of 1.5 percent.

Nearly 371.2 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth 9.58 trillion VND (420.8 million USD).

Declining stocks outnumbered the gaining ones by 299 to 197, while 103 other stocks ended flat.

Large-cap stocks underperformed, as 17 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 Index suffered, pulling the large-cap index down 0.69 percent to 1,096.78 points.

Among the worst decliners on the VN30 basket included Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), down 2.8 percent; Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company (HPG), declining 2.7 percent; Masan Group Corporation (MSN), falling 1 percent; and Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VNM), dipping 2.5 percent; as well as Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation (SAB), decreasing 2.4 percent.

On the opposite side, the banking and brokerage sectors posted strong growth on Monday as the industries indexes gained 2.2 percent and 4.14 percent respectively, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The banking industry was led by Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID) and Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MBB), which were up 6.46 percent and 5.08 percent respectively.

The brokerage sector was driven by Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM), up 6.92 percent, Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS), jumping 4.85 percent and Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI), moving up 3.68 percent.

Foreign investors on January 29 were net sellers of 262.26 billion VND on HOSE, focusing on Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VNM) (154.3 billion VND), Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company (HPG) (121 billion VND) and Coteccons Construction Joint Stock Company (CTD) (110.3 billion VND). In addition, they bought 4.56 billion VND on the HNX.

According to BIDV Securities JSC (BSC), although the profit-taking pressure was large, the support from cash flow of investors was still very strong.

“The market may have short-term corrections like on January 29 because the foreign investors turned to be net sellers, however the macro picture is still very positive and the market index will continue the way to overcome the old peaks,” BSC said in its daily report.-VNA