VN-Index records sharpest decline in 5 months

Vietnam's benchmark VN-Index dropped 15.12 points, or 1.19%, to 1,254.59 on Friday, marking its deepest fall in five months.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), which the index represents, 353 stocks declined, five times more than the 69 that gained. The insurance, securities, retail, and industrial groups experienced the steepest drops.

However, due to their significant market capitalization, banking stocks had the largest negative impact on the VN-Index. Leading the way was TCB of Techcombank, followed by CTG of VietinBank, VPB of VPBank, MBB of MBBank, ACB of Asia Commercial Bank, LPB of LPBank, and HDB of HDBank.

The VN30 basket also played a key role in the market's downturn, with 24 of its constituent stocks falling, causing the VN30 index to lose nearly 23 points - the sharpest fall since early August.

Despite the significant drop in the index, the trading value on the HoSE rose by nearly VND3 trillion to around VND13.75 trillion ($540.8 million). However, this was still relatively low, on par with the average levels seen in recent months.

Foreign investors continued their selling spree for the third consecutive session, net selling a total of VND734 billion ($28.87 million), 7.6 times higher than the previous session. FPT of tech giant FPT Corp. and CTG of Vietinbank were the most heavily net sold stocks.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index dropped 0.89% to 225.66 points, while the UPCoM Index on the Unlisted Public Companies Market closed at 94.34 points, down 0.75%.