Workers at a processing line of Vonfram, ore of the Masan High-Tech Materials under Masan Group. Masan Group's share jumped 1.6 per cent on Monday, cushioning the market's downtrend. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The stock market decreased on Monday, as some investors took profits before the year-end holidays.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index declined by 14.08 points, or 1.34 per cent, to close the trading day at 1,038.4 points. The index was mostly unchanged last week. 

The market's breadth was negative as more stocks posted poor performance, while liquidity still increased compared to the previous session. Of which, more than VNĐ16.04 trillion (US$677.47 million) worth of shares, equal to a trading volume of over 988.8 million stocks, was traded on the southern bourse. 

The benchmark index was under stronger selling force pressure, with many pillar stocks reporting great losses. 

According to Vietnam Construction Securities (CSI), the market's benchmark still can't break through the positive signal in recent weeks' rallies, and the trend is now sideways and accumulating. 

"In a worst-case scenario, the area of 985-1,010 points is the strong support zone which is likely to boost for new long positions. But if the index witnesses impressive gains in points and liquidity, the resistance zone in the next weeks is a range of 1,128-1,140 points," said CSI.

Meanwhile, Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC) said that if the VN-Index couldn't cross over the resistance levels of 1,065-1,070 points, the market is likely to face a risk of going down in the short term. 

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, plummeted 13.85 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 1,050.22 points. Up to 25 ticker symbols of the VN30 basket went down, while only four stocks edged higher, and one stock ended flat. 

Real estate, banking, manufacturing, and utility industries led Monday's bearish trend. Specifically, Vingroup (VIC) was the biggest loser, down 3.25 per cent, followed by Vinhomes (VHM), VPBank (VPB), Vietcombank (VCB), and Vietinbank (CTG). All the stocks dropped by 0.63-2.97 per cent. 

Other stocks weighing on the market's sentiment were Vinamilk (VNM), Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), Sabeco (SAB), and PV Gas (GAS), down at least 1.13 per cent. 

However, the index pared losses on gains of Vincom Retail (VRE) and Masan Group (MSN) stocks, up 4.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively. 

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) also dipped by 0.75 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 212.24 points. 

During the session, more than 106.9 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth nearly VNĐ1.6 trillion. 

The market was cushioned by foreign cash inflows as foreign investors net bought for the 21st straight session. They net bought VNĐ105.57 billion on HoSE, and VNĐ13.23 billion on HNX. — VNS