Vietnam’s richest hit hard by stock plunge following world oil slump

After the Wednesday session alone, VN-Index fell 16.92 points, or 3.16 percent and stood at 518.22 points. During the session, the VN-Index lost more than 20 points before recovering. Many stocks were sold at a floor prices with many blue-chips, though not hitting the floor, closing in red.

Doan Nguyen Duc, chairman of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, saw a loss of about VND374 billion (US$1.76 million) by the end of the day after HAG shares of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group lost VND1,200 per share to VND21,100 per share ($1).

Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group, continued to lose hundreds of billions of dong when HPG shares of the company fell VND2,000 per share to VND47,800 per share. Long lost VND202.12 billion ($9.5 million) on that day, and if the number of HPG shares owned by Vu Thi Hien, Long's wife, is taken into account, the family lost an extra VND37.14 billion more ($1.75 million).

The big bosses of Masan Group were also in the same boat as MSN shares dropped VND2,000 per share to VND79,000 per share. After the trading session, Nguyen Hoang Yen, member of the Board of directors of the company, lost VND43.56 billion ($2 million), while Ho Hung Anh, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, witnessed VND31.54 billion ($1.5 million) values of MSN share fading away.

Fishery stocks are even more tragic.

HVG shares of seafood exporter Hung Vuong Group plunged VND2,000 per share to VND26,700 per share, bringing the total value of HVG shares owned by Duong Ngoc Minh, CEO and chairman of the Board of Directors of the company down sharply by VND87.28 billion ($4.1 million).

Pham family, owners of property developer Vingroup, could not stand aside when suffering a big loss worth some VND732.96 billion ($34.5 million) when their VIC shares declined VND2,000 per share to VND45,000 per share.

Banking shares also fell victim to the bearish market, including STB shares of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank. STB shares of the bank retreated by VND1,000 per share, which caused a loss of VND54.86 billion ($2.6 million) for Tran Phat Minh, the largest individual shareholder of the bank.

Meanwhile, as a shareholder of Sacombank, Vice President of Southern Bank, Tram Trong Ngan also saw a VND54.86 billion loss, while Ngan’s younger brother Tram Khai Hoa, who holds the position of a member of the board of directors of Sacombank, lost VND23.72 billion ($1.1 million).

The ones suffering the biggest loss are oil companies, in which PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (PV Gas) suffered the most severely when seeing the total value of its shares losing VND4.74 trillion ($222.78 billion) as its GAS share fell by VND2,500 per share to VND62,000 per share.

The loss of GAS share was followed by PVD, PVS and PVT. The market capitalization of the PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp decreased by VND757.68 billion ($35.6 million) after the Wednesday session.

PVT shares of Petrovietnam Transportation Corp fell to the floor, losing VND1,000 per share to close at VND14,700 per share, suffering a VND255.86 billion ($12 million) loss in market capitalization.

Currently, the price of oil is at the center of the world economy’s attention, as oil price tends to fall to a new bottom, leaving many economies severely affected.

Vietnam's stock market is not out of that trend, with key indicators, such as VN-Index and HNX-Index, declining continuously.