HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares declined on Monday after rising for six consecutive sessions, as large-cap stocks underperformed as investors made sales in pursuit of short-term profits.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 0.38 per cent to close at 987.61 points. The southern market had risen 2.3 per cent last week after six consecutive gaining sessions.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange was down 0.54 per cent to end at 112.76 points. The index retreated for the first day on Monday after a streak of gains for four straight sessions. It had expanded last week’s rally to 1.5 per cent.

More than 210.7 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ4.5 trillion (US$194 million).

The market trading condition was ruled by declining stocks, which were dominant over gainers by 248 to 198, while 297 other stocks ended flat.

The large-cap VN30 Index dropped 0.68 per cent to stand at 953.79 points.

Bank stocks lost across the board, pushing the indexes down, with decliners including Saigon Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), Military Bank (MBB) and Joint Stock Bank for Development and Investment (BID), slipping 2.4 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively.

Real estate stocks and securities stocks both slid 1 per cent, dragged down by real estate developers Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE), Khang Điền House Trading and Investment JSC (KDH), VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND), Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI) and Viet Capital Securities Joint Stock Company (VCI).

Oil-gas stocks were a bright spot Monday, climbing 1.14 per cent. Gainers included PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), up 5.5 per cent, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), up 0.9 per cent and PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), up 0.9 per cent.

Foreign investors Monday were net buyers of VNĐ63.85 billion on HOSE, including dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) (VNĐ82.59 billion), steel maker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) (VNĐ21.02 billion) and Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) (VNĐ20.7 billion).

At the same time, they net bought VNĐ2.24 billion on the HNX.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC), selling pressure kept increasing as the VN-Index approached 1,000 points. The increase in selling pressure dragged the index down slightly.

The index may need to accumulate in the next sessions before recovering, BVSC said.

Meanwhile, the BIDV Securities (BSC) said in its report that the market is in a short-term correction after last week’s rally and the VN-Index will continue to accumulate around 990 points in the next sessions.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) edged down 0.25 per cent to finish at 51.82 points. The unlisted market index gained 0.44 per cent to finish at 51.95 points in the previous session. — VNS