VN-Index plunges 39 points amid strong sell-offs

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index lost 38.63 points Friday to close at 1,019.82, marking the second sharpest drop since the beginning of the month.

Strong selling pressure made VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), lose more than 30 points in the morning and go down further after the lunch break. It lost over 45 points at a time to approach the 1,010-point territory when sellers dwarfed buyers.

The red color covered the major bourse with more than 450 losers, of which nearly 140 hit their floor prices. Most floor-hitting stocks are in the areas of securities, real estate, construction, oil and gas, and banking.

The VN30 basket, comprised of 30 largest-cap stocks, saw up to 28 tickers decrease by 5%. Some stocks that have strong impact on the market like TCB of Techcombank, MWG of Mobile World Investment Corporation, CTG of Vietinbank, SSI of Saigon Securities Inc., and STB of Sacombank closed at their floor prices. Only SAB of brewer Sabeco recorded a slight increase of 0.9%.

The HoSE's trading value skyrocketed to VND14.6 trillion ($587.9 million), the highest level in 15 days, with more than 742 million shares changing hands.

HPG of steel maker Hoa Phat took the lead in trading value with nearly VND780 billion ($31.4 million), followed by PVD of PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation and SSI.

Foreign investors' selling was worth VND1.8 trillion ($72.5 million) - the highest level in two weeks, mainly tickers in the VN30 basket like HPG, MWG, and VHM of Vinhomes.

They were net sellers to the tune of VND430 billion ($17.31 million) on the HoSE.

On the Hanoi bourse, the HNX-Index dropped 3.75%, while the UPCOM-Index on the unlisted public company market fell 2.74%.