Tellers working at a transaction office of EXIMBANK (EIB). EIB was the only stock in the 30 large-cap basket increasing on Thursday. — Photo courtesy of EXIMBANK.

HÀ NỘI — Shares finished lower on Thursday with market benchmarks down more than 6 per cent as investors flee stocks after new community COVID-19 cases were reported in Quảng Ninh and Hải Dương provinces.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) decreased by 6.67 per cent, equivalent to 73.23 points, to end Thursday at 1,023.94 points. The index posted a loss of nearly 71 points in the morning session. 

The market breadth was negative with 478 stocks declining, of which 276 stocks hit the maximum daily loss, while only 20 stocks climbed. And 12 stocks ended flat. 

Reports on new community COVID-19 cases in Hải Dương and Quảng Ninh provinces weighed on the market which faced selling pressure recently. 

Two community infections of COVID-19 were confirmed on Thursday morning, marking the first local transmissions for almost two months. One of the new cases is linked to a woman who tested positive for the new variant of coronavirus after arriving in Japan to work earlier this week.

As of noon on Thursday, another 82 more cases connected to these two tested positive for COVID-19.

The Government, local authorities and related agencies have immediately carried out necessary measures to contain the spread. 

During the session, more than 767.87 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ18.4 trillion.

The VN30-Index also posted a loss of nearly 73 per cent, equivalent to 6.73 per cent, to 1,010.75 points. Twenty-nine of 30 largest stocks went down with 28 stocks hitting the maximum intra-day loss of 7 per cent, while only one stock rose. In the morning session, all 30 large-cap stocks fell.

EXIMBANK (EIB) was the stock that reversed course after an earlier decrease. EIB shares price ended Thursday at VNĐ18,100, up 2.26 per cent. 

All sectors including banking, securities, real estate, construction, utilities, production, IT and logistics continued downwards with hundreds of big stocks posting a fall of 7 per cent.

Top five stocks influencing the market were Vietcombank (VCB) down 6.98 per cent, Vingroup JSC (VIC) down 7 per cent, Vinhomes JSC (VHM) down 6.92 per cent, Việt Nam Dairy Products JSC (VNM) down 6.97 per cent and JSC Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID) down 6.9 per cent. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index fell more than 8 per cent to 203.05 points. The 30 large-cap tracker HNX30-Index in the northern market decreased by 8.2 per cent on Thursday. 

More than 132.8 million shares were traded on the HXN exchange, with a trading value of nearly VNĐ1.84 trillion. 

In contrast with domestic investors, the market recorded cash inflows from foreign investors, with a value of VNĐ482.09 billion on the HoSE and VNĐ26.94 billion on the HXN. VNS