Concerns about global market moves helped fuel heavy profit-taking on Friday on the HCM City Stock Exchange, driving the VN-Index back below 500 points.
The Index closed the day off 2.14 percent at 493.04. The volume of the day's trades was little changed, totalling 33.16 million shares and worth a combined VND1.58 trillion (US$84 million).
Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) was the most active share on the southern bourse, with over 1.6 million traded.
The HCM City bourse yesterday also welcomed the listing of An Phu Irradiation Company (APC). APC closed its first day of trading up 39 percent from the opening price to VND39,000 ($2.), on a volume of 23,380 shares.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also fell by 1.73 percent to 161.84 points. Trading volume rose slightly to nearly 16.9 million shares, for a total value of VND524.2 billion ($28 million).
Kim Long Securities Company (KLS) continued to be the most sought-after share on the northern bourse, with 3.58 million shares changing hands.
The market yesterday saw signs of profit-taking in almost every code, wrote FPT Securities Company analysts in their daily report. Most market-leading stocks lost value, they noted, adding that "not many people forecast such a steep corrective session".
HCM City Securities Company client Nguyen Hoai Nam said investors were keen to grab profit on any signs of market rise before Tet (Lunar New Year), believing the market was likely to rise shortly before the holiday and fall immediately after. According to Vietstock statistics, over the past nine years, the VN-Index has tended to increase in the 10 sessions leading up to Tet and the drop in 10 following the holiday.
Foreign investors marked their 20th session of net buys yesterday, though on significantly reduced volume. On the HCM City market, they were responsible for a net buy of just VND57 billion ($3 million), down more than 72 percent from the previous session. They increased their net buy slightly on the Ha Noi market, to VND9.7 billion ($515,957).