Vietnamese shares lost big on Thursday morning as investor confidence turned negative following a large-scale sell-off across global markets. — Photo dantri.com.vn

Vietnamese shares tumbled on Thursday morning, dragged down by negative investor confidence after global markets were rocked by a sell-off in US stocks.

The benchmark VN Index plunged 4.81 per cent or 47.80 points to close at 946.16, marking the worst decline on the benchmark index since early July.

The southern market index dropped 0.22 per cent on Wednesday.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange plummeted 5.09 per cent or 5.79 points to end at 107.97.

The northern market index lost a total of 2.16 per cent in the previous four sessions.

More than 292.5 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND5.76 trillion (US$256.2 million).

Local shares moved in a negative direction after global markets were hit by a massive sell-off in the US stock market on fears of escalating US-China trade tensions and more US rate hikes, according to Nguyen Xuan Binh, a senior analyst at Bao Viet Securities JSC.

Poor market sentiment resulted in a large-scale sell-off that pulled 439 stocks on the two local exchanges down while only 38 stocks made gains.

The large-cap VN30 Index fell 4.74 per cent to end this morning at 920.46 points with all of 30 of the largest stocks by market capitalisation losing ground.

The worst-performing blue chips were consumer firm Masan (MSN), steel producer Hoa Sen (HSG), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and VPBank (VPB).

Thursday morning’s market collapse was “a test on the market’s short-term uptrend” and the 940-950 point range would be “a key landmark to determine whether the VN Index maintains its short-term uptrend,” Binh said.

Nguyen Kim Chi, director of KIS Vietnam Securities Co’s Pham Ngoc Thach branch, said a sharp decline would trigger bargain-hunting transactions on the market that should give it a lift.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS