Vietnam Stock Market Plunges 64 Points After Historic Peak as Profit-Taking Triggers Massive Sell-Off

Just one day after reaching an all-time high, Vietnam’s stock market experienced a dramatic reversal on widespread profit-taking, sending the VN-Index tumbling below the 1,500 mark and wiping out a week’s worth of gains in less than an hour.

Market Crash Erases One-Week Rally

The afternoon trading session on July 22 saw selling pressure surge across the board, triggering a steep sell-off. The VN-Index at one point dropped by 66 points to hit 1,490 — marking its steepest single-day decline in four months. More than 310 stocks declined, dragging the index sharply lower.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) soared to a record-breaking VND 71.76 trillion (approx. USD 2.8 billion), far surpassing the previous all-time high of VND 46.7 trillion recorded just the day before. This was also the first time that 19 stocks reached a trading value of over VND 1 trillion each in a single session.

Leading the volume leaderboard was SSI Securities, with nearly 105 million shares exchanged, worth over VND 3.6 trillion. It was followed by VIX Securities (VND 3.03 trillion), SHB, VND, HPG, and VPB.

Technical Glitches Amid Market Frenzy

Around 2:00 p.m., several investors reported technical glitches with trading platforms operated by major brokerages. Real-time stock prices and VN-Index movements became unavailable for many users.

For instance, VNDirect’s system showed the VN-Index down only 25.6 points and total trading value at just VND 54.8 trillion during the closing auction—both significantly below actual figures.

Earlier in the day, market sentiment had been bullish. The index opened higher and briefly surged nearly 7 points to approach 1,565. However, selling pressure quickly emerged, and the index reversed course around 9:30 a.m., accelerating its decline throughout the afternoon as investors rushed to reduce exposure.

By the close, nearly 70 stocks on HoSE had hit their floor price. All large-cap stocks ended the day in the red, with HDBank, Masan, SSI, and TPBank falling to their daily trading limits.

Securities, Banking, and Real Estate Sectors Bear the Brunt

The sell-off was most intense in the brokerage sector, which had experienced strong gains in recent weeks. In addition to SSI, other prominent stocks like VCI, VND, HCM, and VIX all hit their lower limit with no buyers remaining on the order book.

In the banking sector, four stocks — TPB, EIB, OCB, and HDB — also hit floor prices. Larger-cap banking stocks like VPB, TCB, and BID fell more than 5% from their reference prices. VIB was the only bank stock to buck the trend in the morning, but it too reversed course in the afternoon to close down 1.6%.

Real estate was another major drag on the market. Several leading property stocks such as NLG, NVL, DXG, and DIG hit their daily lower limit, with millions of shares left unsold. Flagship names like Vinhomes (VHM) and Vingroup (VIC) dropped 3.7% and 2.1%, respectively.

Foreign Investors Join the Sell-Off

Foreign investors also turned net sellers, withdrawing VND 882 billion from the market. They purchased roughly VND 5.6 trillion worth of shares but offloaded VND 6.48 trillion. Stocks that had attracted strong foreign buying in previous sessions—such as VPB, VIX, MBB, SHB, and ACB—were among the most heavily sold.

Analysts Had Warned of Correction

Before today’s session, many securities firms had warned that the market was vulnerable to a sharp correction following its record-breaking rally. Multiple firms had identified 1,490 points as a near-term support level — a 60-point drop from the day’s opening level.

“With such a prolonged and aggressive rally, a short-term correction was inevitable, especially as speculative money sought to lock in gains from stocks that had risen sharply in a short span,” noted analysts at Vietcombank Securities (VCBS).

Research teams are advising investors to take partial profits and consider re-entering during deeper pullbacks to position for medium-term goals. However, they also cautioned against chasing stocks at elevated prices, noting that such moves could expose investors to unnecessary risk in this volatile phase.

Related

Source: Vietnam Insider