HÀ NỘI — The market retreated on Wednesday but money was still poured into speculative stocks which pushed the liquidity to a very high level.

Nearly 1.1 billion shares worth VNĐ33.6 trillion (US$1.5 billion) were traded on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, up 18.5 per cent in volume and 17.5 per cent in value compared to the previous session.

Liquidity also grew strongly on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange with more than 151 million shares worth VNĐ4.5 trillion exchanged, up 27 per cent in volume and 20 per cent in value against Tuesday.

The foreign traders were net buyers, picking shares worth a net value of VNĐ216 billion.

However, investors were not happy with scores when the benchmark VN-Index inched down 0.07 per cent to close at 1,477.67 points while the HNX-Index decreased 0.42 per cent to end at 453.10 points.

Realty shares attracted investors with the largest firm by capitalisation Vingroup (VIC) rising 1.5 per cent. Other gainers included Development Investment Corp (DIG), Khang Điền House Trading and Investment (KDH) and Tân Tạo Investment and Industry (ITA) each growing between 3 per cent and 6 per cent.

Real estate contributed 3.4 points to the VN-Index but was held back by slumps of the banking, securities and steel industries.

Among big banks, only Vietcombank expanded 0.4 per cent, other major lenders such as Vietinbank (CTG), BIDV (BID), VPBank (VPB), Military Bank (MBB) and Sacombank (STB) all fell by more than 1 per cent.

Speculative stocks attracted many investors which pushed many to hit the ceiling, including electrical equipment manufacturer SAM Holdings (SAM), Đức Long Gia Lai Group (DLG), Sao Mai Group (ASM), Yeah1 Group (YEG), real estate company An Dương Thảo Điền (HAR) and FLC Faros Construction (ROS).

According to Viet Capital Securities Co, when the VN30 signals a less positive direction, it may boost selling in large-cap stocks and money will flow in small-and mid-cap speculative stocks.

Meanwhile, analysts at BOS Securities Co predicted the VN-Index may accumulate in the range of 1,470-1,480 and needs strong economic growth data in the fourth quarter to overcome this zone.

“Investors may partially disburse in the stocks with good business prospects in the last quarter and the industries that are attracting cash flows such as electricity and food,” they wrote in a daily report. — VNS