Employees of IT firm FPT. FPT lost 2.2 per cent yesterday. — Photo: FPT

HÀ NỘI —Intense selling pressure in the afternoon session caused the VN-Index to decline sharply, briefly losing the crucial 1,100 threshold, while foreign investors added to the market downturn.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed Friday at 1,101.19 points, suffering a severe decline of 2.16 per cent.

Market breadth was negative as only 118 stocks gained while 437 decreased during the session.

Liquidity rocketed to record high with more than 1.25 billion shares traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ24.2 trillion (US$990 billion).

"During the afternoon session, a significant surge in selling pressure was observed, leading to a substantial decline in the VN-Index," said financial news site cafef.vn.

"The index even dropped below the critical 1,100 threshold at one point. Adding to the market downturn, foreign investors exerted notable pressure through substantial net selling, amounting to VNĐ783 billion across various sectors."

The VN30-Index dropped 2.57 per cent, to finish trading at 1,103.53 points. All 30 out of the 30 stocks in the VN30 basket decreased.

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

The worst performers were FPT Corporation (FPT), Mobile World Group (MWG), PVPower (POW), Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC), VPBank (VPB).

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).

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.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost by 1.32 per cent to close at 226.54 points.

Over 147.4 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ2.8 trillion. — VNS