A Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) oil rig. Oil prices pulled petroleum stocks down on Monday, bringing the benchmark VN-Index to 946.47 points. — Photo pvn.vn

HÀ NỘI — Growing tension between the US and China continued to cast a shadow over Vietnamese shares on Monday, sending the benchmark VN-Index below the 950-point mark.

The Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange index lost 1.40 per cent to close at 946.47 points.

The VN-Index fell a total 1.05 per cent last week.

It broke the 950-point twice in May.

More than 184.6 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VNĐ4.55 trillion (US$195.7 million).

“Investors in the first trading day of June remained pessimistic given bad developments of the global economy and equity markets,” Thành Công Securities Company (TCSC) said in its daily report.

The escalation of the US-China trade war eclipsed global market sentiment as investors and analysts worried the trade war would result in a global economic slowdown, TCSC added.

Pessimism about macro-economic conditions made investors run from local assets, sending 23 of the 25 sector indices down, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The worst-declining sectors on Monday included energy and mining, banking, securities, technology, rubber and seafood processing, which dipped between 1.4 per cent and 3.9 per cent.

The mining and energy sector index lost 3.9 per cent as petroleum stocks shed value following a sharp drop in oil prices last week.

Brent crude lost total 8 per cent to finish last week near $64.5 a barrel.

Shares of the two largest petroleum companies by market value on HoSE – PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) – plunged 2.8 per cent and 5.1 per cent, respectively.

Large-cap stocks also had a bad day as the VN30-Index tumbled 1.39 per cent to end at 864.08 points.

Twenty-seven of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket lost ground while only three advanced.

There was little chance for the market to bounce back shortly even though the last two declines on Friday and Monday may trigger investors to buy into hard-hit stocks, TCSC said.

Monday's fall was expected as the Vietnamese market was being weighed down by negative developments of the global economy and markets while there was no supportive information inside the country, according to MB Securities Company (MBS).

But increased trading liquidity gave positive signals for the market in the next few days and there could be some technical recoveries, MBS said.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was down 1.03 per cent to end at 103.28 points.

The northern market index decreased by 1 per cent last week.

Nearly 38 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ409 billion.  VNS