Profit taking pressure, bolstered by herd mentality of the large proportion of inexperienced investors with cash in the market, sent the VN-Index spiraling nearly 45 points in the morning session.

But demand recovered as investors tried to bottom fish stocks at more attractive valuations, and the index managed to claw back around 15 points by the end of the session.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, was a sea of red with 395 stocks losing and 78 gaining, with 22 stocks hitting their floor prices for the session.

Total trading volume rose slightly over the previous session, to VND16.27 trillion ($704.31 million). Liquidity in the morning session alone was VND11 trillion, but there were signs of the system freezing yet again after 1.30 pm, when trading volume was at VND15 trillion, even though in the past few days HoSE was able to handle as much as VND20 trillion.

When the VN-Index plunged 5.11 points last Tuesday, analysts had said that the market will likely see strong movements in the following weeks as a result of inexperienced and margin investors panicking when they see corrective movements on the market.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest caps slumped 2.53 percent, with 26 stocks losing and only 3 gaining.

Topping losses was stocks in private banking. STB of Sacombank plunged 6.5 percent, EIB of Eximbank was down 6 percent, VPB of VPBank 5.7 percent, HDB of HDBank 4.5 percent, and TCB of Techcombank 2.2 percent.

State-owned banks did little better, with CTG of VietinBank down 6.2 percent, BID of BIDV 4.6 percent, VCB of Vietcombank 1.6 percent, while MBB of mid-sized Military Bank bucked the trend, gaining 1.6 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest cap, fell 3.1 percent, while VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail and VHM of real estate arm Vinhomes shed 2.1 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

Other major losers included TCH of real estate developer Hoang Huy Group, down 6.4 percent, SBT of agricultural exporter TTC-Sugar, down 5.4 percent, SSI of top brokerage SSI Securities, down 5 percent, and HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, with 3.2 percent.

In the opposite direction, ROS of construction firm FLC Faros continued to hit ceiling price with 6.8 percent, and NVL of real estate developer Novaland added 1.3 percent. MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World was the only ticker which kept its ceiling price.

The HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and smaller- caps, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell by 1.73 percent and 1.29 percent respectively.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers to the tune of VND150 billion on all three bourses, with selling pressure mostly on HPG of Hoa Phat Group, down 3.2 percent, VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, down 1.4 percent, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, which lost 1.7 percent.