The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) was again a sea of red with 339 stocks losing against just 47 gaining. 96 tickers closed at their floor prices, the lowest they could go in a trading session.

Total trading volume was VND3.44 trillion ($146.64 million), almost at its lowest level in the past three weeks, with order-matched transactions accounting for 70 percent.

The VN30-Index for HoSE’s 30 biggest market caps also shed 4.55 percent, with 28 tickers losing and only one gaining. Ten stocks in this basket hit their floor prices.

VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, the second highest market cap stock on the list, topped losses with 7 percent, followed by PNJ of Phu Nhuan Jewelry, ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros, and SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., all of which lost 6.9 percent.

Of the top ten losers, four were of mid-sized banks. In the private sector, STB of Sacombank, TCB of Techcombank and VPB of VPBank all shed 6.9 percent, while state-owned MBB of Military Bank lost 6.8 percent.

The remaining two tickers were VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, and CTG of VietinBank, one of Vietnam’s three biggest lenders by assets. Both dropped 6.8 percent.

Other major stocks that lost this session included VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the parent company of VHM and VRE, down 6.2 percent. BID of BIDV and VCB of Vietcombank, the other two major state-owned lenders, fell 6.4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

Oil and gas stocks were also at the deep end of the losing spectrum. POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex shed 6.3 percent, 6.2 percent and 4.5 percent respectively.

EIB of private Eximbank was the only ticker that kept its opening price, while HPG of leading steelmaker was the only one that gained, adding 0.9 percent.

According to data from financial analysts VNDIRECT, the ten stocks that had the biggest impact on the VN-Index cost it a combined 19.79 points this session.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and midcap stocks, shed 4.18 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for unlisted public companies slipped 2.44 percent.

After one net buying session, foreign investors were net sellers again on all three bourses to the tune of VND160 billion ($6.82 million), with selling pressure focused on the market’s blue chips. They had been net sellers for 33 consecutive sessions before last Friday’s net buying session.