The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), Vietnam’s main bourse on which the VN-Index is based, was a sea of red with 313 stocks losing and 69 gaining. Total trading volume fell slightly over the previous session to VND4.22 trillion ($179.4 million), with order-matched transactions accounting for 77.46 percent.

The VN-Index nudged up slightly before plunging as low as 717 points in the morning session, but climbed back to nearly 723 points by the end of the afternoon.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 biggest capped stocks also plummeted 3.01 percent, with an overwhelming 27 stocks losing and only one gaining. Over half of the stocks in this basket dropped more than 3 percent.

Losses were led by two beverage firms. SAB of Vietnam’s biggest brewery Sabeco lost 6.6 percent, while VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk shed 6.3 percent. They were followed by PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, down 5.2 percent, and BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group, 4.9 percent.

Tickers of state-owned oil and gas firms were among the  bigger losers. PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex lost 4.8 percent, followed by GAS of energy firm PetroVietnam Gas, 4.7 percent, and POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, 3.3 percent.

Three percent plus losses were also registered by Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned banks, VCB of Vietcombank, CTG of VietinBank and BID of BIDV. All private bank stocks also lost this session, the biggest ones being EIB of Eximbank, down 4.3 percent, and TCB of Techcombank, down 3.9 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, and VHM of its real estate arm, HoSE’s two biggest market caps, were at the lower end of the losing spectrum this session, falling 0.3 percent and 1.4 percent respectively. VRE of Vingroup’s retail arm, Vincom Retail, shed 0.9 percent.

NVL of real estate developer Novaland and SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc. were two stocks that kept their opening prices, while ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros bucked the VN30 trend by surging 6.8 percent to its ceiling price, although it has been by far the most volatile blue chip on the basket, regularly hitting floor or ceiling prices in over half of sessions in the past month.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and midcap stocks, fell 0.83 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for unlisted public companies shed 0.93 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the 28th consecutive session to the tune of VND513 billion ($21.81 million) on all three bourses, with selling pressure focused on MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, which fell 0.4 percent, and HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, down 2.8 percent.

In order to support businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Finance Ministry Wednesday ordered Vietnam’s bourses and financial institutions to give discounts of between 10-50 percent for certain services related to derivatives trading, and has made a few other services free, including the application to list on the bourses.

The discounts and fee exemptions will last for over five months, until August 31, 2020, but could be extended if the Covid-19 situation does not ease, the ministry said.