Customers at BIDV's transaction office. The bank shares rose 2.86 per cent yesterday despite the market's general downtrend. Photo courtesy of BIDV

HÀ NỘI — Shares plummeted on Tuesday despite the growth of some major blue chips as negative information continued to weigh on small and medium cap stocks.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index dropped 0.96 per cent to close at 1,438.94 points. The southern market’s index lost nearly 5 per cent in the last five sessions.

Market leaders were banking stocks. BIDV (BID) climbed nearly 3 per cent and Vietcombank (VCB) increased 1.6 per cent. These two shares added nearly four points to the VN-Index. Other large caps such as Vincom Retail (VRE), Vinamilk (VNM), PV Gas (GAS) and brewer Sabeco (SAB) also increased which cushioned the market's fall.

Without the support of blue chips, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange plunged 5.42 per cent to end the day at 421.21 points. The northern market’s index lost 10 per cent in the past two days.

The strong selling pressure on small and medium stocks pushed the market down.

One-third of the total 562 declining shares on the two national stock exchanges hit the floor price. Securities, construction and real estate were the main downward forces which declined 6.6 per cent, 5.6 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively, according to data on vietstock.vn.

FLC slumped for six sessions in a row (four of which it was locked on the floor) following the scandal in which its chairman Trịnh Văn Quyết had not disclosed sales of 74.8 million FLC shares on January 10.

On January 18, the State Securities Commission (SSC) issued a decision to fine him VNĐ1.5 billion (US$65,200) for his unreported trading. The transactions involving Quyết’s share sales were also cancelled.

In addition, Quyết was subject to the additional sanction of being suspended from securities trading activities for five months.

Quyết has paid the fine.

This is an unprecedented measure for Việt Nam’s stock market but SSC said it was aimed to safeguard the transparency and stability of the market. The market watchdog also said it would continue to closely coordinate with relevant authorities in investigating and handling cases with signs of violations in the securities market.

Liquidity decreased significantly with only 836 million shares worth VNĐ25.5 trillion ($1.1 billion) traded in the two markets, down 25 per cent in volume and 29 per cent in value compared to Monday’s levels.

However, foreign traders were strong net buyers with a net buy value of VNĐ900 billion on the two exchanges. Most of the trade focused on shares on HCM City’s bourse such as Sacombank (STB), Vinamilk (VNM), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and Vietcombank (VCB). — VNS