Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese shares tumbled on August 9on both local markets as investors triggered large-scale sell-offs followingrising tensions between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Koreaand false news about the arrest of a former banker.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange plunged 2.26 percentto close at 773.66 points, extending its decline for a second session withtotal loss of 2.4 percent.

The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange dropped 1.19 percent toend at 101.07 points. The northern market index inched down 0.1 percent on August8.

The stock market turned chaotic when investors triggeredlarge-scale sell-offs in all sectors with nearly 428.5 million shares beingtraded on both local bourses, worth 6.3 trillion VND (280 million USD).

August 9’s trading figures were up 36 percent in volume and 29 percentin value compared to the previous session’s numbers.

Among all 20 industries, the worst declining stocks were found infinancial-banking, energy and real estate sectors.

Vietnam’s stock market plunged on August 9 as investor confidencewas pulled down by rising tension between the US and the Democratic People’sRepublic of Korea threatening to conduct military action against each other,according to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC).

Rising tension between the two countries caused investors aroundthe globe to drop stocks and turn to safe havens such as gold.

Vietnamese gold prices were up between 10,000 VND and 30,000 VNDper tael on August 9 for both selling and buying orders while spot gold on theglobal markets moved up 0.4 percent to 1,265.18 USD an ounce.

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Foreign investors ended as net sellers after being net buyers for14 consecutive sessions. They posted a net sell value of 16.9 billion VND,reversing from August 8’s net buy value of 123.5 billion VND.

Vietnam’s stock market was also rocked by a market rumour thatpolice arrested former chairman of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam(BIDV), Tran Bac Ha. However, a public security official and Ha confirmed withlocal media that there was no arrest.

BIDV shares, listed as BID on the HCM Stock Exchange, plummeted6.8 percent, hitting its daily trading limit. As one of the largest lenders bymarket capitalisation, its fall was clearly among main reasons that the bankingsector suffered a big loss on August 9.

BVSC said in its daily report that the sharp decline on August 9only reflected investors’ panic at a specific moment as the chance of amilitary conflict between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea isquite low while the arrest of the former banking executive was confirmed to beuntrue to investors.

Therefore, August 9’s fall should be only a short-term decline andany sell-offs at the moment are unnecessary, BVSC said, adding that the marketwould trade in the negative trend over the next few sessions.-VNA