A store of Mobile World Group (MWG). MWG lost 7 per cent on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Shares collapsed on Friday, falling to fifteen-month lows as a series of large-cap stocks plunged to their floor prices, suffering strong selling pressure throughout the trading session.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed Friday at 1,177.99 points, suffering a severe decline of 4.5 per cent.

Market breadth was negative as only 25 stocks gained while 486 decreased during the session.

Liquidity rocketed to an all-time record high with more than 1.7 billion shares traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ36.1 trillion (US$1.5 billion).

“Investors rushed to sell out, bringing the number of shares traded on HoSE to nearly 1.7 billion shares, setting a record high liquidity during the past 23 years of stock market history in Việt Nam,” said financial news site vietstock.vn.

The VN30-Index dropped 4.63 per cent, to finish trading at 1,190.10 points. Twenty-nine of the 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket decreased while one increased.

Market sentiment worsened and investors became more cautious due to massive selling pressure, said financial news website vietstock.vn.

The worst performers were Mobile World Group (MWG), PVPower (POW), Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC), VPBank (VPB), which all hit the daily decline limit of 7 per cent.

Banking and securities stocks also sank deeply, including Vietinbank (CTG), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB), Tiền Phong Bank (TPB), HDBank (HDB), Military Bank (MBB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID), SSI Securities (SSI), HCM City Securities (HCM), Vietinbank Securities (CTS), Agribank Securities (AGR) and BIDV Securities (BSI).

According to Nguyễn Hoàng Hiệp, head of Macro and Market Strategy Team, DSC Analysis Center, investors should not purchase more in the short term. Once the market has corrected strongly, the possibities of more correction is high, investors should calmly wait for more opportunities.

On a sector basis, all 25 sectors on the stock market lost ground including wholesale, insurance, real estate, IT, retail, banking, food and beverages, logistics and construction, securities, energy, agriculture, rubber production, seafood processing, construction material and spare parts.

They all decreased between 2 and 7 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost by 5.6 per cent to close at 235.96 points.

Over 238 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ4.1 trillion. — VNS