VN-Index slide continues

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index continued to plunge Tuesday to a near nine-month low as investors sentiment remain low as the market has been going down for three weeks.

The index started off in the red and dropped by 25 points but it started to rise again to reach 1,296.13 points by 10:18 a.m.

This is its lowest level since the end of July.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, was seeing 18 tickers in the red, with VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes, FPT of IT giant FPT Corporation and MSN of conglomerate Masan Group the top losers with a decline of 3.7 percent, 3.5 percent and 2.3 percent respectively.

Other losers included PNJ of Phu Nhuan Jewelry, down 2.1 percent, GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas, down 1.6 percent, and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, down 1.9 percent.

Eleven tickers bucked the trend, most of them in the banking and real estate sectors.

BID of state-owned lender BIDV, HDB of HDBank and MBB of lender MB led the rise with a gain of 2.2 percent, 1.9 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.

Investors are also picking up VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail, up 0.7 percent, and VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup, up 0.4 percent.

Foreign investors were net buying at VND551 billion, focusing on DPM of Petrovietnam Fertilizer & Chemicals Corporation and DGC of Duc Giang Chemicals Group.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, was losing 2.12 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 1.23 percent.