The VN-Index lost another 3.62 percent on Monday, ending the week’s first trading session at a very low 487.13 points.
The value of the day’s trades on the HCM City Stock Exchange grew by a modest 12 percent from Friday to nearly VND1.8 trillion (US$94.7 million), on a volume of almost 40.6 million shares. Losers outnumbered gainers by 191-10.
Shares of Sao Mai Construction Company (ASM) and HCM City Foreign Trade Development and Investment Company (FDC) saw their first day of trading, with ASM seeing only 20 shares change hands out of over 9.9 million listed. FDC closed up to VND43,100 ($2.30) per share on a volume of 318,650, out of nearly 14.3 million shares listed.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also plummeted by nearly 4 percent to close the day at 164.54. Trading volume increased to 22.5 million shares, worth a combined VND735.27 billion ($39.1 million), while decliners outnumbered gainers by 216-28.
Can Tho Pesticides Company (CPC) saw it first day of trading on the northern bourse, closing up to VND25,100 ($1.30) per share on a volume of just 4,500 shares.
Investors continued to be spooked by rumours of an impending hike in the prime rate and expectations that inflation would skyrocket in the weeks leading up to Tet (Lunar new year), said analysts of Au Viet Securities Company in a report.
"Investors remain cautious and are waiting on the release of January’s consumer price index," they wrote.
Many investors were sitting out the market due to inflation worries, agreed analysts of Vietnam International Securities Company. Many investors were also looking to realise profits before the Tet holiday, they said, driving them to sell anytime they saw a hint of a rise in the market, they added.
Consistent with this position, Au Viet Securities analysts were warning traders to avoid short-term investments and leveraged investments in light of the currently unreadable market situation. Even long-term investors, they said, should take the time now to arrange their portfolios during the current run of corrective sessions.
Foreign investors yesterday were net buyers on the HCM City market, though on a modest volume of 1.1 million shares, worth a net of VND18.7 billion ($994,680). They were net sellers on the Ha Noi bourse, responsible for a net sale of 132,300 shares.