Customers at VPBank's branch in Hà Nội. VPBank shares (VPB) dropped 4.1 per cent on Monday. — Photo courtesy of VPB

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares sank again on Monday as large-cap stocks were hit by massive selling pressure, especially during the ATC session.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost 1.47 per cent to close the trading session at 888.25 points.

The index last week had gained a total of 2.57 per cent.

More than 434 million shares were traded on the southern bourse on Monday, worth VNĐ7.6 trillion (US$328 million).

Market breadth was negative with 273 losers and 135 gainers.

“After the VN-Index successfully broke through the threshold of 900 points in the previous sessions, the index has started to struggle to test the stability of this trend, with a drop today,” said Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC).

“The resistance at the 895-905 point range is still a challenge for the VN-Index in the current period,” the company said.

“TCSC recommends investors to consider maintaining a holding proportion in the portfolio at 60-70 per cent for medium and long-term goals,” it said.

The VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, decreased 1.92 per cent to close Monday at 824.36 points.

In the VN30 basket, 27 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity decreased. One gained ground and two were unchanged.

Heavy selling pressure was seen across the board and increased in the last few minutes of the trading session, hitting many blue chips, including VPBank (VPB), dropping 4.1 per cent, Mobile World Group (MWG), down 4 per cent, Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company (SBT), decreasing 3.8 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG), declining 3.8 per cent and Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID), losing 3.6 per cent.

Vinamilk was the only one gainer in the VN-30 basket, edging up 0.8 per cent.

On a sector basis, 23 out of 25 sector indices on the stock market lost ground, including real estate, energy, healthcare, insurance, banking, securities, information and technology, food and beverage, construction, construction materials, rubber production, retail and wholesale.

The losers were agriculture and seafood processing.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange dropped 0.57 per cent to close Monday at 125.43 points.

The northern market index had gained 0.25 per cent last week.

More than 57.2 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ684 trillion.

Foreign investors net bought VNĐ53.38 billion on HOSE. They were net buyers on the HNX with a value of VNĐ1.54 billion. — VNS