Stocks opened the new week in negative territory on both stock exchanges yesterday as investors continued to unload shares on fears of steeper declines.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index finished yesterday off 0.49 per cent from Friday’s close, plunging to a 32-month low of 375.30 points.

Driven by heavy sales, the value of trades rose 28 per cent to VND560.9 billion (US$26.7 million), while the volume of trades increased by 19 per cent to over 37.7 million shares.

Sacombank (STB), the most-active share yesterday with 3.26 million traded, hit its ceiling price of VND14,800 ($0.70) per share. The bank has only four more sessions in which to complete its registered plan to buy back 100 million shares. It has not released any information about the specific quantity it has succeeded in repurchasing, but it reacquired about 55 million shares through negotiated trades last month.

Of the 10 leading shares by capitalisation, Eximbank (EIB) and property developer Vincom (VIC) yesterday each posted gains of about 1.2 per cent. These shares failed to lift the Index, however, as decliners outnumbered advancers overall by 147-84, with other blue chips all tumbling.

“Investors now lack confidence in catching the falling knife,” an FPT Securities Co analyst wrote in a note. “The market continues to nosedive, and any snap rally is usually followed by a prolonged downturn.” Investors were also increasingly concerned with the phenomenon of foreign investors divesting from Viet Nam’s market, said SJC Securities Co analyst Lam Khanh Hai.

“Investors suspect that foreigners will try to drive up the market in order to unload shares,” Hai said.

Since the beginning of the month, foreign investors have sold over 22 million shares on the HCM City market, worth a combined VND600 billion ($28.6 million), while they have bought up 16 million shares worth VND487 million ($23.2 million). They concluded yesterday as net sellers on both bourses, responsible for a combined net sale of over VND9.4 billion ($447,600) worth of shares.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index lost 0.6 per cent to close at 61.36 points. Trading remained sluggish, with just over 26 million shares changing hands, worth VND224.9 billion ($10.7 million). Decliners overwhelmed advancers by 165-63.

Investors focused trades on highly liquid stocks in the securities and petroleum sectors. Trang An Securities (TAS) rose to its ceiling price, while Petrovietnam Technical Services (PVS) gained 1.5 per cent. Kim Long Securities (KLS) slumped by 2 per cent even as it became the most-active share on the Ha Noi bourse, with over 2.4 million traded.

VNS