Stock market hits 16-month low

By Dat Nguyen July 6, 2022 | 01:24 am PT

An investor looks at stock prices on a smartphone at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnam's benchmark VN-Index dropped 2.68 percent to 1,149.61 points, lowest since February 2021, with foreign investors net sale nearly tripling.

The index closed almost 32 points lower in its third losing session in a row as most major Asian markets were in the red.

Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell by 9 percent to VND12.57 trillion ($538 million).

The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 25 tickers dropped.

Two of them, GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas and VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail, hit the floor with a 7 percent drop.

VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup lost 6.6 percent to hit the lowest since March 2020.

Other losers included PNJ of Phu Nhuan Jewelry, down 5.6 percnet, PLX of fuel distributor Petrolimex, down 4.9 percent, and CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank, down 4.3 percent.

Three blue chips gained, led by SAB of brewer Sabeco with a 1.2 percent rise, followed by VJC of budget airline Vietjet, up 1 percent, and BVH of insurance company Bao Viet Holdings, up 0.4 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND749 billion, up 270 percent from Tuesday.

They mainly sold the FUEVFVND of Dragon Capital Vietfund Management, GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas and VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank.

The HNX-Index at the Hanoi Stock Exchange, where mid and small caps list, was down 2.17 percent while the UPCoM-Index at the Unlisted Public Companies Market was down by 1.11 percent.