Profit-taking accelerated in the final minutes of on March 22's sessions on both the HCM City and Hanoi stock exchanges, causing stocks to plummet.

On the HCM City market, the VN-Index closed at 464.80 points, off 0.74 percent from March 21’s close. The volume of trades declined 11 percent to 37 million shares, worth a combined total of 837.2 billion VND (38.9 million USD).

Most leading blue chips plunged, including Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI) down 4.4 percent, property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) down 3 percent, PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) down 2.7 percent, Phu My Fertilisers (DPM) down 1.9 percent, and Sacombank (STB) down 0.7 percent.

Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Eximbank (EIB) and software producer FPT closed unchanged, while Masan Group (MSN) bucked the prevailing trend and rose to its ceiling price, a 4.9 percent increase.

Dai Viet Securities Co analysts blamed the accelerated sales to worries over tightened monetary policies and the official priority, re-emphasised on March 21, to curb inflation – policies which would collectively restrain the amount of capital available for investments on the stock market.

Foreign investors have also become net sellers, intensifying worries over their commitment to the market, the analysts said. While foreign investors were again net buyers in HCM City on March 22, they continued as net sellers in Hanoi.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index plunged 1.76 percent to end the session at 93.17 points, with 221 codes seeing declines. The volume of trades was low at 37.5 million shares, worth 604.3 billion VND (28 million USD).

Eight of the 10 leading shares by capitalisation lost ground, with Bao Viet Securities (BVS) plunging 5.47 percent, VNDirect Securities (VND) 5.11 percent, and Sacomreal (SCR) 4.93 percent./.