A customer at BIDV's Tiền Giang branch. Shares of the bank declined on Monday despite it will be added in the VN30 basket in July. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Hùng

HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares moved against the general trend in the region on Monday, driven down by slumps of heavyweight stocks such as Vingroup, brewer Sabeco and steelmaker Hòa Phát Group.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE), the VN-Index edged down 0.29 per cent to close Monday at 972.53 points.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also inched down 0.23 per cent to end the session at 105.61 points.

Both markets increased marginally last week.

Liquidity was below the average of the last 20 sessions, totalling 174 million shares worth VNĐ3.9 trillion (US$168 million) on the two exchanges, down 7 per cent in volume and 3 per cent in value compared to Friday’s figures.

Widening declines of some heavyweight stocks drove the market down.

Vingroup (VIC) and its property arm Vinhomes (VHM) decreased by more than 1 per cent each. Food and beverage firms such as Vinamilk (VNM), Sabeco (SAB) and Masan Group (MSN) slipped between 0.7 per cent and 2.4 per cent.

Việt Nam’s biggest listed steel company Hòa Phát Group also gave up more than 2 per cent.

Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) also declined despite news that the two shares will be added to the VN30 basket (which tracks the top 30 biggest shares by market value and liquidity on HOSE) in July.

The market was cushioned by growth of some banks, including Vietcombank (VCB), up 1.8 per cent, Techcombank (TCB), up 2.2 per cent, and Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB), up 0.5 per cent.

Mobile World Investment JSC (MWG) also rose by more than 3 per cent.

The US stock market continued to set a historic peak last week but this did not have a positive impact on the Vietnamese securities market as the cash flow in the market was weak, according to analysts at Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities JSC.

Banking stocks rallied in recent sessions, with shares of Vietcombank surpassing its 2008 peak and continuing to climb. This is expected to support the market in the near future, they wrote in a daily report.

Foreign investors continued to be net buyers on Monday but their net buy value decreased sharply to just VNĐ6.2 billion, down 98 per cent compared to Friday’s value. — VNS