Nearly half of all codes sank into the red on the HCM City Stock Exchange this morning, pushing the benchmark VN-Index down 1.21 per cent to 80.91 points.— Photo tygiavang

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Nearly half of all codes sank into the red on the HCM City Stock Exchange this morning, pushing the benchmark VN-Index down 1.21 per cent to 80.91 points.

Most of the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity slumped.

Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Vietcombank (VCB) led the losers with over 2.3 per cent losses each, while PetroVietnam Finance (OVF), Ocean Group (OGC), Vinamilk (VNM), FPT Corp (FPT) and PV Gas (GAS) also declined between 0.7-1.5 per cent.

The VN30 was down 1.13 per cent to 535.98 points.

Around 22 million shares worth VND417.7 billion (nearly US$20 million) changed hands during the session.

Tien Len Steel Group (TLH) surprised the market by becoming the most active code with nearly 2 millin shares trading at the ceiling price of VND6,500 a share, despite no media speculation obviously influencing the move.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also gave up 0.5 per cent to close the morning's session at 61.11 points. Only 7.7 million shares worth VND65.7 billion ($3.1 million) were traded despite low valuations.

Sai Gon - Ha Noi Bank (SHB) was the most active code this morning with 1.3 million shares exchanged at VND6,400 each.

The afternoon trading will begin at 1pm. - VNS