After the news of the prosecution for stock manipulation, Apec stocks plummeted.

On June 23, 2023, the State Securities Commission (SSC) announced that the Security Investigation Agency - Hanoi City Police had issued a decision to initiate a criminal case for "Stock Market Manipulation" occurring at Asia Pacific Securities Joint Stock Company (APS), Asia Pacific Investment Joint Stock Company (API), and IDJ Vietnam Investment Joint Stock Company (IDJ).

Following this announcement, investors in the market continuously sold off "Apec group" stocks, causing the prices of these stocks to fall to their maximum limit.

Following the news of the indictment for stock manipulation, APEC stock prices fell sharply (Figure 1). — Following the news of the indictment in the "stock market manipulation" case involving three stocks, API, APS, and IDJ, the share prices of Apec companies plummeted (Photo: Provided).

Specifically, in the first trading session of the week on June 26, 2023, the Apec group of stocks experienced a complete lack of buyers, with intense selling pressure right from the opening of trading. APS shares of Asia Pacific Securities fell 9.8% to 12,900 VND/share, with a sell order of 12 million shares at the floor price; API shares of Asia Pacific Investment fell 9.5% to 11,400 VND/share, with a sell order of 6 million units at the floor price; IDJ shares of IDJ Vietnam Investment fell 9.8% to 11,900 VND/share, with a sell order of nearly 20 million shares at the floor price.

All three companies mentioned above have stated that they are not involved in or have any activities related to the incident. They also affirmed that the incident has not impacted their business operations.

Prior to the announcement of the "Stock Market Manipulation" case against the three stocks APS, API, and IDJ, these three stocks had all reached their peaks around the same time in August 2022. Specifically, API reached a price of 26,342 VND/share on August 22, 2022; APS climbed to 17,900 VND/share on August 22, 2022; and IDJ also peaked at 17,100 VND/share on August 29, 2022.

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