A customer at a branch of FPT Corporation's FPT Telecom Joint Stock Company. FPT lost 1.5 per cent Monday. Photo FPT

HÀ NỘI The Vietnamese stock market settled lower on Monday due to the slump of heavy-weight stocks.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost 1.88 per cent, to close Monday at 1,032.07 points.

More than 909.5 million shares worth VNĐ16.4 trillion (US$691.8 million) were traded in the southern market.

The market breadth was negative with 286 losers and 158 gainers. Another 53 closed flat.

VN-Index's gaining momentum slowed down at the end of the morning session, then the index reversed and dropped in the afternoon session, said BIDV Securities Co.

“The market dropped sharply to the support area of 1,030 - 1,040, however, the liquidity is not significant, showing that in the coming sessions, VN-Index is still likely to bounce up when the bottom-fishing cash flow appears,” said the company.

Foreign investors net bought VNĐ329.72 billion on HOSE. They were net buyers on HNX with a value of VĐ8.95 billion.

Blue chips led the market downtrend. Twenty-three out of the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity on the HoSE lost value and only three gained.

The VN-30 Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, declined 2.6 per cent to close at 1,037.42 points.

In the VN-30 basket, property giant Vinhomes (VHM), steelmaker Hoà Phát Group (HPG), Vietinbank (CTG), Khang Điền House (KDH), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG), PV Power (POW), SSI Securities Inc (SSI), Vingroup (VIC), and Vincom Retail (VRE) were among the worst performers.

In the banking group, most of the stocks lost ground, pressured by strong selling force, with losers including Military Bank (MBB), Techcombank (TCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID), VietinBank (CTG), Việt Nam International Commercial JS Bank (VIB) and Saigon-Hanoi Commercial JS Bank (SHB).

Securities stocks decreased towards the end of the session. VN-Index's loss was significantly broadened as securities stocks declined strongly, such as VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND), Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS), Viet Capital Incorporation (VCI), Agribank Securities Corporation (AGR) and APG Securities Joint Stock Company (APG).

Energy stocks also performed negatively with losers such as PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) and Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVC).

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined 2.98 per cent to close at 210.53 points.

Trading value on the northern exchange reached VNĐ1.6 trillion, with trading volume of 114.8 million shares. — VNS