Shares of Vingroup (VIC) and its property arm Vinhomes (VHM) buckled on Wednesday morning, dragging the stock market down to a new low.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange slipped 1.83 per cent to close at 967.87 points, breaking the previous low under 1,000 points, and extending its loss of 2.86 per cent from Tuesday.

The HNX Index in the Ha Noi Stock Exchange tumbled 1.12 per cent to end at 115.40 points. The index dipped 2.46 per cent on Tuesday.

Some 97 million shares, worth VND3.5 trillion (US$155 million), were traded in the two local exchanges.

The market breadth was negative, with 280 declining stocks against 120 gaining stocks.

The VN30 Index, which tracks the southern city’s 30 largest shares by capitalisation and liquidity, fell 1.12 per cent to 948.22 points. There were only five gainers against 21 decliners in the basket.

Fresh from the morning, the darling of the market on Tuesday, Vinhomes JSC (VHM) suddenly hit the floor price of VNĐ110,000 per share, reaching the daily decline limit of 6.9 per cent.

Vingroup had a similar experience, slipping for three consecutive sessions and hitting the floor price of VNĐ99,000.

The slump of the two largest companies by market capitalisation was the main reason for the market's downward trend.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS