Shares struggled to rise on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on October 19 as investor sentiment turned negative on the current market trading condition.

Investors check stock prices at MayBank Kim Eng Securities Company in HCM City

The benchmark VN Index inched up 0.15 percent to close at 828.93 points, narrowing its growth from the intraday highest rate of 0.46 percent. HCM City’s stock index was down 0.07 percent on October 18.

More than 169.3 million shares were traded on the southern market, worth 4.1 trillion VND (182.4 million USD).

The figures represented a decline of 14.8 percent in volume and 13.8 percent in value compared to October 18’s numbers.

The market breadth was negative with 142 declining stocks, 124 gaining ones and 58 shares ending unchanged.

The current market condition suggested investors exercise caution over the performance of large-cap stocks, which would have a big impact on the movements of the market index, according to Bao Viet Securities Co (BVSC).

The VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 top companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity, narrowed its gain from 0.5 percent to only 0.07 percent at the end of October 19’s session.

Thirteen companies in the VN30 basket saw share prices drop against 14 gaining stocks.

The best-performing stocks included FLC Faros Construction (ROS), DHG Pharmaceutical Co (DHG), Binh Minh Plastic Co (BMP), food producer Kido (KDC) and digital retailer Mobile World (MWG).

Those were the companies that either have reported higher-than-expected earnings for the third quarter and nine months or are expected to release good reports for the periods.

Kido has announced its pre-tax profit in the nine-month period exceeded the year-targeted number by 9 percent to reach 535 billion VND.

KDC rose 1.2 percent after having fallen total 4 percent in the previous five sessions.

On the opposite side, financial-banking stocks suffered from profit-taking as investors continued to look for profits after those stocks had made recent gains.

The worst decliners in the sectors were MBBank (MBB), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM City Securities (HCM).

BVSC analyst Tran Xuan Bach said in a note that investors were quite indecisive and unwilling to make new purchases at the moment.

If current conditions continue, it may signal the market could face a short-term downtrend, Bach said, adding that the VN Index could fall back to the range of 818 and 822 points.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index fell 0.31 percent to end at 109.08 points. It lost 0.38 percent on October 18.

Nearly 49 million shares were exchanged on the northern bourse, worth 585.6 billion VND.

VNA