One day earlier, Vietnam reported 10 more cases of coronavirus infections, the most infections recorded in a single day so far, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 76. The virus scare prompted investors to cut their stock exposure.

The number of losers on the southern bourse was around five times higher than that of advancers at 313 versus 69. The benchmark index plunged 21.72 points, or 2.91% to close at 725.94 points.

Trading volume rose by a sharp 36% from the day earlier to over 353 million shares worth more than VND4.2 trillion (US$181 million). Of these, block deals accounted for some 44 million shares at a total value of VND950.7 billion.

Among the 30 stocks that make up the VN30 index, construction firm ROS made a gain on a matching volume of over 13 million shares while securities firm SSI and property developer NVL kept unchanged.

Dairy producer VNM, brewer SAB, lender VCB, petroleum firms GAS and PLX, and jewelry maker PNJ saw their prices dropping by 4.7%-6.6%.

As many as 14 speculative stocks, such as realty trading firm HQC, mining firm AMD, agricultural chemical HAI, and property developer FLC and DLG, were in negative territory.

These five speculative stocks were the most actively traded tickers on the main market, ranging from some 15.8 million to 36.6 million shares each.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index ended the day 0.84% lower at 100.99 points. More than 87.5 million shares worth VND473.9 billion (US$20.3 million) changed hands, up 21% in volume but down 18% in value.

Only eight of the 30 stocks in the HNX30 index made gains while pillar stocks, such as lenders ACB and SHB, stone producer VCS, gas firm PVS and insurer PVI, were on a negative note.

Investment and import export trading firm KLF led the northern bourse by liquidity with more than 29.7 million shares transacted, declining 5% to VND1,900 each.