Customers at Vietcombank's branch. VCB led the stocks which pulled the VN-Index most on Monday. — VNS Photo Mai Hương

HÀ NỘI — Shares opened this week on a negative note on both major stock exchanges as pessimistic news from the financial market continued to affect investors’ psychology.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index gave up more than 22 points, or 2.11 per cent, to close Monday’s trade at 1,023.10 points. The southern bourse’s index lost nearly 1 per cent last week.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange decreased 1.39 per cent to end at 201.62 points after losing 1.6 per cent last week.

The market breadth leaned heavily to the sellers with 612 losers and 176 gainers.

Nineteen of the 25 stock industries tracked by vietstock.vn lost, of which 19 posted an average loss of more than 1 per cent. Only one sector – ancillary production – increased by 0.3 per cent on average.

The biggest losers included agricultural production, securities, retail, accommodation and catering services, banking and other financial services with average losses of between 2.6 per cent and 4.1 per cent.

Regarding stocks, the top three banks including Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and BIDV (BID) led the stocks pulling the VN-Index most, down 4.4 per cent, 3.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively.

Liquidity was modest, with a total of 625 million shares worth over VNĐ10.6 trillion (US$450 million) being traded on the two exchanges, up nearly 2 per cent in volume but down 4 per cent in value compared to Friday’s levels.

According to Viet Dragon Securities Co (VDSC), market movements have not improved despite being supported at 1,045 points of the VN-Index. Under the influence of the structure of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the level of trading on the market may increase.

“The market signal was disturbed by this restructuring, but in general, the correction is slowing down thanks to the support area of 1,040 – 1,045 points for the VN-Index. It is expected that the market will continue to be supported in this area and recover again in the near future,” Phương Nguyễn, VDSC’s market analyst, wrote in a note.

Foreign traders followed the domestic trading pattern on Monday. They sold a net value of VNĐ346 billion in HCM City’s market, focusing on steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG), with a net value of VNĐ68 billion and Vingroup (VIC) with VNĐ58 billion. In Hà Nội, foreign investors net bought nearly VNĐ14 billion. — VNS