Market continues to struggle

HÀ NỘI — Indices moved in different directions on Wednesday as investors' risk appetite countered lingering selling pressure. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index extended rallies to end the trading day at  一, 二 八0. 五 一 points, a gain of  一. 一 二 points, or 0.0 九 per cent. 

There were more stocks increasing in the afternoon session on the southern bourse, helping the market's breadth return to positive territory. However, liquidity was lower than the previous session, with matching value on HoSE down  四. 三 四 per cent to over VNĐ 一 一. 六 八 trillion (US$ 四 九 七. 九 million).

The VN 三0-Index, tracking  三0 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on HoSE, also inched up  三. 三 points, or 0. 二 五 per cent, to  一, 三0 一. 四 四 points. Seventeen stocks in the VN 三0 basket rose, while  一 一 stocks declined. And two stocks ended unchanged. 

The benchmark's rally was driven by gains in pillar stocks, mostly in attractive sectors including real estate and banking industries. 

Leading the uptrend was Vinhomes (VHM)'s shares with an increase of  一. 八 四 per cent. Other ticker symbols influencing the the market's bullish sentiment were VPBank (VPB), Becamex (BCM), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG), and BIDV (BID), up in a range of 0. 五- 一. 四 四 per cent. 

The market also received support from strong performance of seafood stocks, such as Vĩnh Hoàn Corporation (VHC) up  三. 三 二 per cent, Navico (ANV) up  五. 二 一 per cent, and I.D.I International Development Investment Corporation (IDI) even registered the biggest daily gain of  七 per cent. 

However, persistent selling force limited the rallies, with many large-cap stocks facing big losses. Of which, Vietcombank (VCB) lost the most as investors took profit after it dominated the market's upside in the previous session. The bank's shares were down  二. 三 三 per cent. PV Gas (GAS) also plunged more than  一. 五 per cent. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index finished lower, down  一. 九 四 points, or 0. 六 六 per cent, to  二 九 一. 九 二 points. The matching value on the northern bourse was over VNĐ 一. 六 trillion, equal to the matching volume of  六 六. 二 million shares. 

Foreign investors were net sellers on both main exchanges on Wednesday, with a net value of VNĐ 二0 二. 七 三 billion. Specifically, they net sold nearly VNĐ 一 八 二. 三 billion on HoSE, and VNĐ 二0. 四 四 billion on HNX. — VNS