A petrol seller fills up at a petrol station of Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX). PLX declined 7 per cent yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares plunged on Thursday as panic selling flooded the market, following the sharp fall of large-cap stocks.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index plunged 4.19 per cent, to 1,055.45 points.

The market's breadth was negative with 505 stocks declining while only 24 stocks rose.

The market liquidity was high as over VNĐ23.2 trillion (US$943 million) was poured into the southern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 1.2 billion shares.

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on HoSE, dropped 4.34 per cent to 1,064.95 points.

There were no advancers in the VN-30 basket. In the opposite direction, six losers hit the daily limit decline of 7 per cent, which were The Việt Nam Rubber Group (GVR), Masan Group (MSN), Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC) and Vincom Retail (VRE).

Banking stocks also fell and put great pressure on the overall market, with losers including Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietcombank (VCB), Sài Gòn Thương Tín Commercial Joint Stock Bank (STB), Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Military Bank (MBB), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB), Tiên Phong Bank (TPB) and Liên Việt Post Bank (LPB).

Energy stocks also lost ground with losers such as Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), PVPower (POW), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD), Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVC) and PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS).

"Given the current sluggish developments, it is likely that the market will continue to face difficulties in the near future, and the risk of further weakness still exists. Therefore, investors still need to be cautious and observe supply and demand developments to reassess the state of the market. Temporarily, it is still necessary to consider the market's recovery ability to restructure the portfolio in a way that minimises risks," said Việt Dragon Securities Co.

All 25 sector indices on the stock market posted losses, including retail, wholesale, real estate, construction, seafood production, securities, insurance, IT, banking, food and beverage, construction materials, logistics, healthcare, oil and gas, rubber production and agriculture.

Meanwhile, on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index lost 5.3 per cent to close at 214.98 points. — VNS