Vietcombank's employee performs a transaction at its office in Hà Nội. The lender's shares tumbled 1.12 per cent on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Shares saw a steep fall on Monday on strong selling pressure, while foreign investors also net sold nearly VNĐ1 trillion (US$41.3 million) across the whole market.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) extended its bearish trend to the third day in a row. It had plummeted 17.85 points, or 1.44 per cent, to close the first trading day at 1,223.63 points.

The breadth of the market on the southern exchange remained in negative territory, with 271 decliners and 73 gainers. The liquidity soared by 22 per cent over the last session, with the matching value reaching more than VNĐ32.1 trillion. This is also the highest value in nearly a month.

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, decreased by 18.43 points, or 1.48 per cent, to 1,230.71 points. In the VN30 basket, 26 ticker symbols finished lower, while only three inched up and one stayed unchanged.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index fell 4.87 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 251.33 points. The correction snapped the eight-day winning streak of the index.

During the session, investors poured over VNĐ2.7 trillion into the northern bourse, equal to a trading volume of 134.1 million shares.

Rising sell-off force weighed on stocks across all industries, which was opposite to the market's expectations about the positive effects of US President Joe Biden's historic visit to Việt Nam on Sunday and Monday.

The real estate sector was hit the most as numerous stocks from penny to large-caps reported great losses. Of which, Vinhomes (VHM) led the bearish trend, down 2.78 per cent.

It was followed by Becamex (BCM) fell 2.2 per cent, Vincom Retail (VRE) dropped 3.04 per cent, Kinh Bắc City Development Holding Corporation (KBC) down 3.67 per cent, Khang Dien House Trading and Investment JSC (KDH) declined by 3.87 per cent, while Novaland (NVL), Dat Xanh Real Estate Services JSC (DXS), Hải Phát Investment JSC (HPX), Hưng Thịnh Incons (HTN) and Saigon Reai Estate Group JSC (SGR) hitting the floor prices of 7 per cent.

Banking and securities stocks couldn't escape the downtrend with many pillars down at least 1 per cent, such as Vietcombank (VCB) down 1.12 per cent, BIDV (BID) dipped 1.06 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) decreased by 2.26 per cent, and VIX Securities JSC (VIX) plunged 2.53 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign investors were net sellers today as they net sold a great amount of VNĐ981.67 billion on three exchanges. — VNS