Vietnam's benchmark VN-Index fell 25.33 points, or 2.27%, to 1,088.49 Thursday, the lowest since October 26, due to sudden massive selloffs at-the-close.
The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), represented by the index, saw up to 397 stocks declining, including 33 hitting their floor prices. Its trading value increased by 2% to VND20.64 trillion ($851.22 million).
The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, plunged 27.12 points, or 2.44%, to 1,082.68, with 29 tickers falling and only VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes unchanged.
HPG of steel giant Hoa Phat had negative impact on the VN-Index as it dropped 5% with nearly VND580 billion ($23.9 million) in trading value, followed by VCB of Vietcombank, GAS of PV Gas, SAB of brewer Sabeco, and MWG of Mobile World Investment Corp.
Strong selling focused on stock groups with recent good short-term gains such as securities, real estate, construction, and materials.
A series of securities codes fell to their floor prices such as VCI of Viet Capital Securities, VIX of VIX Securities, FTS of FPT Securities, BSI of BIDV Securities, CTS of VietinBank Securities, and AGR of Agribank Securities.
In the real estate group, many tickers were in the same fate, including DIG of DIG Corp., HTN of Hung Thinh Land, PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corp., NLG of Nam Long Group, QCG of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai, SZC of Sonadezi Chau Duc Shareholding Company, and DXG of Dat Xanh Group.
In the steel group, HSG of Hoa Sen Group and NKG of Nam Kim Steel also suffered the maximum decline.
Foreign investors were net sellers on the HoSE to the tune of VND439 billion ($18.1 million). They mainly net sold VHM and VPB of private lender VPBank
The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, lost 2.58% to 224.54 points, while the UPCoM-Index for the unlisted public companies market fell 1.27% to 84.95 points.