Vietnam’s benchmark VN Index closed down 0.29 per cent on Wednesday, dragged by several banks, while other blue-chips ended flat, helping to trim the loss.
Vietcombank, the biggest listed bank by market value, ended down 1.3 per cent, followed by Sacombank, BIDV and VietinBank.
Petrovietnam Gas, the country’s biggest listed firm, and Vinamilk, closed unchanged.
Banking stocks fell after a state-run newspaper reported on Wednesday that bad debts at banks in Ho Chi Minh City made up 5.53 per cent of loans at the end of March, nearly twice the government target to cut the ratio to 3 per cent by September 2015.