Vietnam’s stock records the 19-year biggest plunge on virus fears, crashing oil prices

The market tumbled amid the unpredictable developments of the coronavirus epidemic in Hanoi, where several new infected cases were found after a 26-year-old woman returned home from London. The world oil price's record drop of more than 30% was the main reason leading to the pessimistic market.

On the morning trading day, the VN-Index dropped 56 points (or 6.28%) to 835 points, setting the second deepest decline in Vietnam's stock market history. The market plunges stronger than the recession of 5.87% in 2014, when China illegally installed  oil rig on East Sea.

Between June to October 2001, the market had decrease of over 6%. However, this is an early stage of the Vietnam stock market.

On the first trading day of this week, the market capitalization of Vietnam's stock, including Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi bourses and UpCoM lost over $9.8 billion. Shares of Vietcombank, Vingroup, Vinhomes, BIDV, and PV Gas led the downtrend.

Global oil prices dropped by almost a third after Saudi Arabia launched an aggressive price war, sending rattled stock markets plunging and spurring a rush into government bonds as investors sought havens, Financial Times reported.   

Crude was on track for its biggest one-day drop since the 1991 Gulf war after the Saudi move which threatens to swamp the oil market with supplies just as the coronavirus outbreak hits demand.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dived by more than a third of a percentage point to a record low of 0.32 per cent, its biggest rally since 2009. The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield dropped below 1 percent, taking the entire U.S. yield curve below that level for the first time, the paper said.

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