VN-Index plunges 43 points

The index started to free fall in the afternoon and closed with a 2.89 percent drop, lowest since December 7.

446 tickers, or 87 percent of stocks listed on the main bourse Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), were in the red, with 125 of them closed at floor price.

The selling spree continued after the index reached a new peak of 1,528 points on January 6, driven by a flux of new retail investors. It has lost nearly 5 percent since.

It is likely that the recent fall of VN-Index is triggered by a drop in some speculative stocks after the recent plunge of tickers of FLC and relative companies and real estate firms that are involved with the Thu Thiem Urban Area land auction, said director of analysis at brokerage Yuanta Vietnam.

Many speculative investors who use leverage might have seen their stocks sold by brokerages to stop the loss, which caused a ripple effect that dragged the whole market down, he told VnExpress.

FLC closed for the sixth straight falling session Monday after its chairman Trinh Van Quyet saw his stock accounts suspended after failing to report his plan to sell 175 million shares in the company.

CII of Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment Jsc, and NBB of NBB Investment Corporation – stocks that are said to be benefit if real estate developer Tan Hoang Minh secured the most expensive land lot in Vietnam in HCMC’s Thu Thiem Peninsula, all hit the floor after the company pulled out of the deal last week.

Twenty seven out of 30 blue chip tickers fell, with five of them hitting floor price, including SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation, VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail and GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group.

Many real estate tickers like DXG of real estate developer Dat Xanh Group, NLG of real estate developer Nam Long Investment Corp and HQC of Hoang Quan Real Estate Company closed around 6.9 percent lower.

Several leading banking stocks posted a slight decrease. MBB of lender MB dropped 0.5 percent, ACB of Asia Commercial Bank fell 0.9 percent and CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank fell 1.3 percent.

Other banks, however, plunged. STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank lost 6.9 percent, while HDB of HDBank fell 5.2 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of VND201 billion ($8.74 million) with focus on STB and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 4.61 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market dropped 2.55 percent.