Shares volatile on large-cap stocks

An investor watches stocks move on the online scoreboard. — VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

HÀ NỘI — Shares were mixed at closing on Thursday, higher on the HCM City Exchange but lower on the northern bourse, experiencing strong volatility with big variation in large-caps’ prices.

The benchmark index’s gain narrowed, with the VN-Index rising as much as 0. 一 七 per cent to end at  九 四 三. 九 七 points, making up a six-session gain of  五. 七 per cent.

Contrary to strong demand in previous sessions, Thursday’s session witnessed fluctuation of the index.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index posted a loss of  一. 二 六 per cent to end at  一0 五. 五 八 points, reversing from its increase of  二 per cent on Wednesday.

Nearly  二 四 九. 二 million shares, worth over VNĐ 五. 二 trillion (US$ 二 二 六 million), were traded across the two markets.

Overall market condition was positive with  二 三 六 gainers and  二 一 四 losers while another  二 九 一 closed unchanged.

Tracking the southern bourse’s largest stocks by capitalisation and liquidity, the VN 三0-Index added 0. 六 一 per cent, to end at  九 四 一.0 九 points.

In the VN 三0 basket,  一 四 stocks gained and  一 一 stocks lost.

The benchmark index received support from steel maker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) which surged to the ceiling price of VNĐ 一 一, 五 五0 per share.

Other large-caps also gained strongly, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Masan Group (MSN), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG), Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) and Vinamilk (VNM). Notably, budget carrier Vietjet (VJC) was up  二 per cent thanks to the information that the firm on July  一 八 signed a contract with Boeing, purchasing  一00 Boeing  七 三 七 MAX aircraft worth nearly $ 一 三 billion.

However, the market also underwent strong downward movement in the afternoon. Many large-cap stocks faced strong profit taking pressure after a long recovery period.

Bank stocks lost ground, slowing down the uptrend of the market.

Laggards in the banking group included Vietinbank, Military Bank, Vietcombank and VPBank.

Other blue-chips such as Phú Nhuận jewelry producer, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation, brewery Sabeco, Saigon Securities Incoporate and real estate developer Vinhomes dropped, also putting pressure on the indices.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company, the market is predicted to move sideways in the next sessions with a wide divergence of stocks that depend on Q 二 earnings results.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) inched up 0. 八 五 per cent to finish at  五0. 五 九 points. It gained  一. 五0 per cent to finish at  五0. 一 六 points in the previous session. — VNS