Vietnamese shares plunged on Monday morning, in line with the global downturn, as the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) worsened around the world outside China, sending investors to safe-haven assets like gold.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange plummeted 5.79 per cent to close the morning trade at 839.85 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gave up 6.12 per cent to 106.69 points.

Across Asia, major stock indices also witnessed a crash with Japan’s Nikkei losing 5.7 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi down more than 4 per cent, China’s Hang Seng down 3.5 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX plunging more than 6 per cent.

Nearly 110,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus, with the number of deaths topping more than 3,800 globally. The number of infected people in Viet Nam also increased to 30 yesterday, rattling nerves of investors.

All 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost value, 12 of them dropped by the daily maximum of 7 per cent.

Oil prices nose-dived 30 per cent on Monday after the collapse of OPEC’s supply cut agreement with Russia also weighing on local shares of energy companies.

PV Gas, PetroVietnam Drilling & Wells Service (PVD) and Petrolimex all lost 7 per cent while PV Power slipped 6.8 per cent.

Liquidity remained good with 278 million shares worth VND5 trillion (US$214.6 million) being traded in the two markets in the morning.

Meanwhile, prices of gold continued to be high, around VND46.8 million and VND47.5 million ($2,008-2,039) per tael this morning.

The afternoon trade starts at 1pm. VNS