HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares tumbled on Monday as a sell-off hit local assets on worries over a potential global economic crisis.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost 1.89 per cent (18.64 points) to end at 970.07 points.

The southern market index plunged 2.05 per cent (20.52 points) last Thursday, bringing its weekly loss up to total 1.54 per cent last week.

More than 245.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ5 trillion (US$216.8 million).

Declining stocks dominated the market trading breadth as they outnumbered gaining stocks by 236 to 78. Forty-three stocks ended flat.

Local stocks were hit by a large-scale sell-off after the US and European markets dipped late last week while Asian stocks also underperformed in the first trading day of the week, according to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS).

On Friday, disappointing economic data and forecasts from the US and eurozone triggered a sell-off on US and EU stocks, putting pressure on Asia-Pacific stocks – including Việt Nam – this week.

The sell-off brought 27 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 basket down and sent the blue-chip index down 2.07 per cent (18.87 points) to 893.40 points at the end of the day.

None of the blue chips in the VN30 basket advanced. Decliners included Vincom Retail (VRE), Mobile World (MWG), VPBank (VPB) and Vingroup (VIC).

The difference between 10-year and three-year bond yield rates turned negative for the first time since 2007, indicating investors were somehow panicked with the vision of the global economic slowdown, according to Bao Viet Securities Co (BVSC).

What investors were counting on was the US-China trade talks, but the talks had barely shown signs of improvement in the trade relations between the two biggest economies, BVSC said.

“The VN-Index lost it supportive level of 980 points and fell to 960 points during the session. It was only buoyed slightly by those that were eager to bottom-fish,” SHS said in its daily report.

“The short-term prospects of the benchmark index have become less optimistic and it may continue falling deeper in the coming days.”

“There may be some technical recovery sessions and the decline is expected to weaken in the following days,” SHS added.

The VN-Index is forecast to experience a technical recovery on Tuesday, heading to 980 points, according to SHS.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index plunged 1.56 per cent to end at 106.41 points.

The northern market index plummeted total 2.13 per cent last week.

Nearly 48 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ584.7 billion. VNS