Vietnamese stock markets witnessed a great slump in share prices as selling pressure continued to surge on November 18.

At the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index closed at 594.25 points, losing by 1.11 percent. The VN30 Index, which tracks the 30 leading stocks in capitalisation and liquidity, also fell by 1.47 percent to 627.84 points.

Trading value jumped by 35 percent over the Nvember 17 session to 2.7 trillion VND (127.3 million USD) on a volume of 143.9 million shares.

Across the board, a total of 135 out of 287 stocks declined.

With the November 18 decreasing speed, FPT Securities analysts predicted the VN-Index would continue to slide and possibly reach 580 points.

There was no bad news in the market, "but investors lost their patience", they said.

However, Bao Viet Securities Company analyst Tran Duc Anh advised investors to buy during such declining sessions to assist their short-term trading purposes since stocks were associated with good results and had not increased strongly.

At the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index likewise dropped by 0.69 percent to 90.25 points. Transaction value reached 1.12 trillion VND (52.8 million USD).

The negative performance of blue chips in Hanoi drove the HNX30 Index 1.14 percent lower to 183 points.

While shares plunged, the exchange rate of commercial banks hit a new high. Each US dollar now costs up to 21,420 VND, a 25- to 60-dong increase. The interbank rate remained at 21,246 VND to a US dollar.-VNA