Workers carry out technical checks of a gas pipeline system at Cà Mau Gas Processing Plant, under the management of PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) in the southern province of Cà Mau. GAS hit the daily limit gain of 7 per cent to close at VNĐ72,600 per share on Thursday. VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hùng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares posted the biggest loss in seven weeks as investors oversold on the pessimism of the US central bank about global economic prospects.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange tumbled 3.63 per cent to end Thursday at 867.37 points. It was the market’s biggest loss since April 21.

The VN-Index inched up 0.06 per cent on Wednesday.

More than 707.4 million shares were sold on the southern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ10 trillion (US$430.46 million). Those were also the highest trading figures recorded on the southern market.

The market was quiet in the morning session but quickly nosedived in the afternoon trading session after the US central bank Federal Reserve kept lending rates unchanged at near zero per cent on Wednesday night and planned no rate hikes this year, raising concerns about future economic growth, MB Securities (MBS) said in its daily report.

The market trading condition turned negative at the end of the day with total 312 stocks declining on the southern bourse while 82 increased.

The blue-chip tracker VN30-Index slumped 3.84 per cent to 806.87 points with none of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity making gains.

Twenty-eight large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket declined, 12 of which plunged between 6.6 per cent and 7.0 per cent.

Those 12 stocks included consumer staples firm Masan (MSN), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG), petrol firm Petrolimex (PLX), and SSI Securities (SSI).

Medium-cap and small-cap indices on the southern market lost 4.19 per cent and 3.05 per cent, respectively.

Sub-indices that track stocks in the financial-banking, mining and energy, retail, technology, seafood, utilities, and construction materials sectors slumped between 4.1 per cent and 6.2 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.

The local stock market had the worst day since April while trading liquidity reached a record high, MBS said.

Record-high trading liquidity with strong selling pressure may not be a good signal for the market, the company said.

“We need to observe coming days to see if the market has started its correction stage or it was just a bad day for all,” the company said.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index dropped 3.83 per cent to finish Thursday at 116.06 points.

The northern market index had gained total 6.19 per cent in the previous six trading days.

More than 124 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth over VNĐ1.2 trillion. — VNS