The VN-Index slipped 0.97 percent to 761.78 points Friday, after having lost over 5 percent the previous session. 

236 stocks lost and 147 gained on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), Vietnam’s main bourse on which VN-Index is based, with 42 hitting their floor prices, the lowest they could go in a single session.

Order-matched transactions remained high comparative to last month’s average of VND2.77 trillion ($119 million) per session, at VND4.27 trillion ($182 million) on Friday.

The VN30-Index for the bourse’s 30 biggest market caps dropped 0.36 percent, with 17 stocks losing and ten gaining. Five of the gainers were banking stocks.

Unlike the previous session, when over half the VN30 tickers hit the floor, only SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar closed at its floor price, down 6.7 percent.

It was followed by ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros, down 5.9 percent, PLX of state-owned petroleum distributor Petrolimex, 5 percent and BVH of insurance gaint Bao Viet, 4.7 percent.

Of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned banks by assets, BID of BDIV lost 4.6 percent and VCB of Vietcombank lost 1 percent while CTG of VietinBank rose 0.7 percent.

In retail, PNJ of jewelry chain Phu Nhuan Jewelry and MWG of electronics store chain Mobile World dropped 3.4 percent and 2.8 percent respectively, while VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail kept its opening price.

Food and beverage tickers also did not do well this session. VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk shed 1.8 percent, SAB of major brewer Sabeco fell 0.4 percent, and MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group slipped 0.2 percent.

In the opposite direction, POW of PetroVietnam Power, Vietnam’s second biggest electricity generator, topped gains with 6.1 percent.

It was followed by four stocks of mid-sized banks. STB of Sacombank added 4.5 percent, TCB of Techcombank 1.7 percent, MBB of state-owned Military Bank 0.9 percent and HDB of HDBank 0.9 percent.

Other gainers included VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest market cap, up 0.8 percent, REE of appliances maker Refrigeration Electrical Engineering 0.9 percent, and NVL of real estate developer Novaland 0.4 percent.

The HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and midcap stocks, shed 0.53 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for unlisted public companies lost 0.84 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the 24th consecutive session on all three bourses, with a net sell value of VND715 billion ($31 million), the highest in the past four months. Selling pressure was mostly focused on HPG of leading steelmaker of Hoa Phat Group, which lost 1 percent, and MSN of Masan Group.

In Asia, recent coronavirus-induced sell-offs in regional stock markets have triggered circuit breakers, or temporary trading halts, in several exchanges including India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Circuit breakers are measures implemented by exchanges when they consider price movements to be overly volatile, which include trading suspensions for certain stocks or across the whole market.

Depending on the country, trading suspension can last as little as five minutes, or up to over an hour after losses breach a pre-determined limit.