HÀ NỘI — The market recorded a sharp selloff on Wednesday, with the VN-Index losing over 62 points to close at 1,668 points, its steepest decline among major Asian stock indices.

Broad-based selling swept across the market, pushing hundreds of listed shares into the red, while many large-cap names reportedly hit the floor price.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE), 245 stocks declined and 75 ticker symbols gained. Liquidity on the southern bourse rose from the previous session to over VNĐ23.4 trillion (US$890 million).

Negative pressure was concentrated in pillar stocks. The ten shares with the biggest negative impact collectively took away nearly 48 points from the VN-Index.

Vingroup (VIC) and Vinhomes (VHM) hit the floor prices and erased nearly 32 points from the benchmark index, while Vincom Retail (VRE) and Vinpear (VPL) also fell more than 5 per cent.

Other heavy-negative influencers were Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), PV Gas (GAS) and Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG), losing at least 3.9 per cent. 

Phu Nhuan Jewellry (PNJ) continued to fall to the floor with no buy orders. At the close, PNJ traded at VNĐ35,500 per share, erasing all gains accumulated over more than five years and sliding back to the lowest zone since early 2021.

In SSI Securities' updated margin list dated July 22, PNJ was removed from the list of marginable securities, reducing the loan-to-value ratio to 0 per cent, meaning investors can only trade with cash. The firm previously cut PNJ's margin ratio from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.

KIS also announced that PNJ would be removed from the margin trading list starting July 23. 

Similarly, TCBS and Phu Hung Securities have stopped margin lending for PNJ from July 9 and July 6, respectively.

The moves by multiple brokerages to cut margin exposure or reduce lending rates to 0 per cent reflected rising caution toward PNJ after market-related volatility in the jewellery and diamond segment.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also dipped 5.52 points, or 1.87 per cent, to 275.49 points. 

Foreign trading reportedly turned back to net selling with value exceeding VNĐ1.9 trillion ($73.6 million). Selling pressure was said to concentrate in SSI, VIC, VCB, Sacombank (STB) and VPBank (VPB). — BIZHUB/VNS