Stock trading drops 10%

The index closed 2.2 points lower after losing 6.37 points on Thursday. The last session of the year saw VN-Index falling 32.5% from the first.

Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell by 10% to VND7.42 trillion ($314.74 million).

The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 13 tickers lose.

KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House fell 5.2%, while NVL of property developer Novaland Group lost 4.4%.

BID of state-owned lender BIDV and SAB of brewer Sabeco both dropped 3.5%.

Other decliners included MBB of lender MB, down 1.7%, and TPB of private TPBank, down 1.6%.

Fourteen blue chips gained, led by PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate Development with a 1.5% rise and POW of electricity producer Petrovietnam Power Corporation, up 1.4%.

Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of VND497.2 billion, mainly buying STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank and BCM of Becamex Investment and Industrial Development.

The HNX-Index at the Hanoi Stock Exchange, where mid and small caps list, was down 0.60% while the UPCoM-Index at the Unlisted Public Companies Market was up by 1.07%.