Real estate stock plunge drags VN-Index down 15 points

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index dropped 14.58 points, or 1.18%, to 1,223.81 on Thursday largely due to the fall of real estate stocks.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), represented by the index, saw up to 409 losers and only 99 gainers. Its trading value dropped VND2.7 trillion to VND27 trillion ($1.11 billion), with more than 1.2 billion shares changing hands.

Real estate was the worst performer when the red overwhelmed all stocks. Among them, VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup took away nearly 3.6 points from the VN-Index, falling 6.3% to VND55,500 ($2.29). It was also the ticker with the largest trading value, at over VND1.5 trillion ($61.9 million), of which more than 60% came from active selling orders.

Another property code, NVL of Novaland also recorded VND1.5 trillion in transaction value, with selling value accounting for more than two-thirds. This stock closed the session down 6.3%.

Other major stocks in the group such as VHM of Vinhomes, DIG of DIG Corp., PDR of Pha Dat Real Estate Development Corp., DXG of Dat Xanh Group, and CEO of CEO Group lost at least 2%. Notably, HPX of Hai Phat Invest and QCG of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Corp. hit their floor prices.

The manufacturing group also performed badly, with HPG of giant Hoa Phat going down 2.11%, becoming the third negative influencer on the VN-Index, after VIC and VHM.

MSN of Masan Group decreased 1.87%, GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group 1.35%, GEX of Gelex Group 4.83%, HSG of Hoa Sen Group 3.18%, and NKG of Nam Kim Steel Corp. 3.4%.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers on the HoSE to the tune of nearly VND200 billion ($8.25 million), a sharp fall from VND1.2 trillion ($49 million) in the previous session. They mainly net sold VHM, HPG, VIC, STB of Sacombank, and SAB of brewer Sacombank.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, where mid and small caps list, inched down 1.66 % to 251.86 points, while the UPCoM-Index on the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 0.56% to 93.65.