A banker and a customer wearing face masks at an office of Sacombank. The bank hit a maximum intraday loss of 7 per cent. Photo sacombank.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Indices finished lower on Monday, extending last week’s losses as profit-taking pressure weighed on bank stocks. 

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 29.75 points, or 1.98 per cent, to 1,471.96 points. Last Friday, the index dropped 5.08 points after gaining for four straight sessions. 

The market’s breadth was negative as 132 stocks increased, while 322 stocks declined. And liquidity rose sharply compared to the last session, with more than 810.7 million shares traded on HoSE, worth VNĐ25.92 trillion (US$1.4 billion).

The index’s downtrend was due to losses in large-cap stocks, especially bank stocks. The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index plunged by 40.85 points, or 2.64 per cent, to 1,505.07 points. Of which, six stocks of the VN30 basket climbed, while 24 stocks slid with one stock hitting the floor price.

Data compiled by vietstock.vn showed that Vietcombank (VCB) led the losing group, down 4.44 per cent. Other bank stocks posting big losses were BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Techcombank (TCB), MBBank (MBB) and Sacombank (STB). These stocks decreased at least 4.1 per cent, while STB even hit the biggest daily loss of 7 per cent. 

The benchmark was also weighed by losses of other pillar stocks like Vinhomes (VHM), down 2.01 per cent, Vincom Retail (VRE), down 4.62 per cent, Hoà Phát Group (HPG), down 2.01 per cent, Vinamilk (VNM), down 1.1 per cent, and Việt Nam Rubber Group (GVR), down 1.91 per cent. 

On the other hand, some stocks still attracted capital flows, cushioning the index’s pull back. Accordingly, PV Gas (GAS) was the biggest gainer in the market, up 4.5 per cent, mostly thanks to the strong rally in the international market of oil prices. 

Oil prices hit a seven-year high at the end of last week as escalating tensions between Russia-Ukraine sparked worries on tightening global oil supplies. 

Petrolimex (PLX) also saw a gain of 1.35 per cent yesterday. 

News in Việt Nam to welcome all international flights also supported airline stocks. Of which, Vietjet Aviation JSC (VJC) was up 5.42 per cent, while Vietnam Airlines JSC (HVN) rose 0.76 per cent. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index plummeted 5.88 points, or 1.38 per cent, to 421.01 points. 

During the session, investors poured nearly VNĐ2.3 trillion into the northern market, equivalent to a trading volume of 78.6 million shares. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors were net sellers on two main exchanges, with a total value of VNĐ287.5 billion. Of which, they net sold a value of VNĐ293.15 billion on HoSE, while net bought a value of VNĐ5.65 billion on HNX. VNS