Hanoi (VNA)ꦺ - Shares on the HCM Stock Exchange gained ground after a slight decrease in morning trade of September 13, following the recovery of several large-cap stocks, while continued foreign selling kept weighing on the market.

The benchmark VN-Index, the measure of 311 stocks in the southern bourse, closed marginally unchanged at 659.7 points. It was down 1.1 percent in the previous session. On the smaller exchange in Hanoi, the HNX-Index inched up 0.2 percent to end at 83.9 points. The Index lost 1.2 percent in the last two trades. The market breadth was rather neutral with 209 stocks declining out of a total 690 codes and 199 advancing. Some large-cap stocks rebounded in afternoon trade, which rescued the market from another fall. Dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), the biggest listed stock with a market value of 9.4 billion USD, recouped 2.6 percent yesterday after losing a cumulative 4 percent in the two previous settlements, finishing the trade at 144,900 VND (6.50 USD) per share. However, the shares continued to top the foreign net sells by value at 65 billion VND (3 million USD). On September 12, 100 billion VND worth of VNM shares were net sold by foreign investors. The few gainers included insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and PV Gas (GAS). On the other end of the spectrum, more than half of the top 10 stocks lost value, including the four biggest banks - Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG) and Military Bank (MBB), as well as the private equity Masan Group (MSN) and real estate developer VinGroup (VIC). The foreign sector remained net sellers on the HCM City’s exchange with a net sell value of over 117 billion VND, lifting total net sell value to more than 1.4 trillion VND in the last 10 consecutive sessions. Foreign investors collected shares worth a net value of 18 billion VND on the Hanoi Stock Exchange. They picked a net buy value of 14 billion VND on September 12. “Long-lasting selling pressure by foreign investors will likely cause market resistance,” stock analysts at FPT Securities Co wrote in a note. The VNM exchange-traded fund (ETF) is expected to reduce its holding of Vietnamese shares by 1 percent in third-quarter portfolio arrangement, equivalent to a net sell of 9.4 million USD, analysts said. They said the market trend this week would depend on the next session and if the VN-Index extends losses, the market would likely stay in negative territory for the whole week. Portfolio trading of big ETFs will finish by September 16. Liquidity decreased with combined 125 million shares worth almost 2.7 trillion VND was traded in the two markets on September 13, down 10 percent in both volume and value compared with the previous day’s figures.-VNA