On the HCM Stock Exchange, the index dived during nine of the last 10 sessions, losing 13.6 per cent since August 10. — VNS Photo Doan Tung

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Vietnamese shares continued their steep fall this morning, with the benchmark VN-Index losing another 25 points, or 4.58 per cent, to close at 530.82 points.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the index dived during nine of the last 10 sessions, losing 13.6 per cent since August 10.

In Ha Noi, the HNX-Index also slumped 3.94 per cent to end at 74.54 points.

Oil and gas companies were among the largest losers, as most of them were traded near the daily drop limit of seven per cent, after the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil hit a six-year low at below US$40 a barrel on Friday. PV Gas (GAS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and WellsService (PVD) plunged more than 6.3 per cent.

Banks also fell, with eight of the nine listed banks losing value between 1.7 per cent and 6.9 per cent on the two exchanges. Without trading, only Nam Viet Bank closed unchanged at VND6,900.

The overall market was very pessimistic, with nearly 60 per cent of the total 674 shares falling, while only 45 stocks, or seven per cent, climbed.

Nearly 117 million shares, worth VND1.714 trillion ($76.5 million), were traded by the end of the morning on the two markets.

Many analysts have tried to calm investors, saying that the impact of the yuan depreciation has not happened in just Viet Nam, but on a global scale. The devaluation of the dong was expected and would help tostabilise the domestic economy.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the whole of last week, unloading shares worth a net VND700 billion ($31.3 million), a modest number in comparison with their total investment of about $12 million to $13 million in the Vietnamese stock market.

The afternoon session will start at 1pm. — VNS