Vietnam stock market worst performer in Asia, index records sharpest fall in 2 years

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index lost nearly 60 points, or 4.7%, to 1,216.61 on Monday, becoming the worst performer in Asia with biggest drop in 23 months.

Strong selling pressure made the capitalization of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) plunge VND244 trillion ($10 billion) to VND4,950 trillion ($196.6 billion).

The major bourse saw 475 stocks losing, including 111 hitting their floor prices, and only 40 gaining, with nearly 1.46 billion shares changing hands for over VND33.5 trillion ($1.33 billion).

The VN-30 index, which features 30 largest caps, plummeted 56.84 points, or 4.42%, to 1,227, with up to 29 codes declining.

Six blue chips suffered the maximum decrease, namely MSN of Masan Group, BCM of Becamex, BID of BIDV bank, GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group, SSI of Saigon Securities, and VRE of Vincom Retail.

SHB of Saigon-Hanoi Bank was the only in this group closing in the green. Previously, it had a time hitting its ceiling price.

In the mid-cap group, most real estate and securities stocks hit their floor prices with no buyers. QCG of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Corp. was among a few maintaining its green, increasing over 4%.

Foreign investors were net sellers on the HoSE to the tune of nearly VND1.2 trillion ($45.65 million), much higher than normal.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange dropped 4.82% to 229.71 points while the UPCoM-Index on the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 2.44% to 88.98 points.

The stock market plunged amid the soaring gold and US dollar prices. On Monday afternoon, the price of SJC gold bars exceeded VND85 million ($3,375) per tael, up VND1 million compared to last weekend.

The VND/USD exchange rate at Vietnamese banks has hit VND25,300, a record high.