Customers at a Techcombank branch. The bank shares lost 7 per cent yesterday due to strong selling force.- Photo vneconomy.vn

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index extended losses and fell below the 1,200 point-level on the last trading day of the week. It plummeted by 56.07 points, or 4.53 per cent, to 1,182.77 points. It lost nearly 63 points on Thursday.

The market’s breadth was negative with most of the stocks on HoSE declining, of which 199 stocks dropped by 7 per cent, the biggest daily loss. However, liquidity was higher than the previous session, with over VND20.4 trillion (US$882 million) worth of shares, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 817 million stocks, traded on the southern bourse.

The great loss in the previous trade couldn’t help to create bargain-hunting demand on the market and many pillar stocks still faced a strong sell-off. The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index closed the day at 1,223.76 points, down 56 points, or 4.38 per cent.

In the VN30 basket, 28 stocks slid with seven hitting the maximum daily loss, while only one stock climbed and one stayed flat.

Of the top five stocks influencing the downside market, Vietcombank (VCB) led the fall, down nearly 5.2 per cent in market capitalisation. It was followed by PV Gas (GAS), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Masan Group (MSN) and VPBank (VPB). The stocks plunged at least 5.3 per cent, with MSN hitting the floor price.

Other large-cap stocks that registered the biggest intraday loss of 7 per cent were Techcombank (TCB), Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Sacombank (STB), Khang Dien House Trading and Investment JSC (KDH) and PV Power (POW).

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) also dropped further on strong selling pressure. It finished the week at 302.39 points, down 13.13 points, or 4.16 per cent.

During the session, nearly 108.3 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth over VND2.09 trillion.

Foreign investors returned to the southern market after net buying VND567.68 billion. However, they still net sold a value of VND3.55 billion on HNX.