VN-Index slides as speculative stocks bottom

The index started off in the red and gradually declined throughout the day before closing over 15 points lower.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, surged nearly 34 percent to VND32.88 trillion ($1.44 billion), highest in nearly three weeks.

Sixteen stocks on the HoSE hit the floor Monday, including FLC of real estate developer FLC and other related stocks such as AMD of FLC Stone Mining and Investment and ROS of FLC Faros Construction.

They fell after the State Securities Commission of Vietnam fined FLC for violating information disclosure laws two months after its chairman Trinh Van Quyet received a similar fine.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 24 tickers in the red, led by STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank with a 5.3 percent drop to the lowest in over two weeks.

BID of state-owned lender BIDV dropped to an eight-session low, continuing its downtrend which started at the end of January.

Other falling tickers included POW of electricity producer Petrovietnam Power Corporation, down 3.3 percent, and SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation, down 2.8 percent.

VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk fell 2.4 percent to a near two-year low.

Three blue chip tickers gained, with MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World rising 3.7 percent and FPT of IT giant FPT Corporation gaining 2.5 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the third straight session in a row to the tune of VND86.9 billion, focusing on VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, and VCI of Viet Capital Securities.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 1.49 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market dropped 0.85 percent.