Gas tanks stored at PetroVietnam Gas South, a member of PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (GAS). The company's shares lost 6.3 per cent on Wednesday. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares slumped on Wednesday on worries that a second wave of coronavirus infections is on the way.

Việt Nam confirmed twelve more cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, of whom ten were linked to hospitals in Đà Nẵng, now the country's largest coronavirus hotspot.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 2.77 per cent to end trading at 790.84 points.

More than 362 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ5.5 trillion (US$237.5 million).

Market breadth was negative with 352 shares falling and 59 gaining.

The southern market index suffered its biggest daily percentage drop in four months on Monday, losing 5.31 per cent to end the day's trading session at 785.17 points. It then rebounded by 3.59 per cent to end Tuesday at 813.36 points.

The new cases intensified fears of another round of Government restrictions and left investors fearing the prospect of a second wave of infections.

The large-cap VN30-Index, tracking the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, plunged 2.78 per cent to close Wednesday at 735.16 points.

In the VN30 basket, notable decliners included Vietcombank (VCB), decreasing 1.3 per cent to VNĐ77,500 per share; Techcombank (TCB), losing 3.2 per cent; VPBank (VPB), down 3.6 per cent and Hoà Phát Group (HPG), falling by 2.9 per cent.

PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Sabeco (SAB) all plummeted by more than 5 per cent, Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) decreased by 4.7 per cent and Vinamilk (VNM) fell by 3.5 per cent.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company (BSC), investors should limit their trading and wait until this correction trend ends.

Foreign investors net bought VNĐ303.8 billion on HoSE. They were net buyers on HNX with a value of VNĐ1.32 billion.

On a sector basis, 24 out of 25 sectors on the stock market decreased, including insurance, securities, banking, real estate, retail, information and technology, food and beverage, health care, mining, rubber production, seafood processing, logistics, construction and construction materials.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also lost 1.04 per cent to end at 106.85 points.

The northern market index had surged 4.99 per cent to end Tuesday at 107.98 points.

More than 53 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ491 billion. — VNS