Novaland's headquarters on Nguyễn Du Street, District 1, HCM City. The company was the biggest gainer yesterday, limiting losses of the market. Photo laodong.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares ended lower on Monday as profit-taking activities weighed on the stock market, while foreign investors net sold more than a trillion Vietnamese đồng on two main exchanges.  

The market benchmark VN-Index fell 5.14 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 1,372.63 points. The index gained 1.93 per cent last week.

The market's breadth was negative as 232 stocks declined and 173 stocks rose. 

The liquidity was still high with nearly 768.2 million shares traded on HoSE, worth VNĐ22.66 trillion (US$982.7 million).

The losses were driven by falls in pillar stocks. The VN30-index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on the southern market, slid 0.2 per cent to 1,478.29 points. Seventeen of 30 stocks in the VN30 basket fell, while ten stocks climbed and three stocks ended flat. 

Stocks in attractive sectors including banking, material and real estate led the market's losses. 

JSC Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV, BID) lost the most, down 2.49 per cent. Other stocks posting big losses were Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Vietcombank (VCB), Techcombank (TCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk, VNM). All these stocks plunged more than 1 per cent on Monday. 

The index pared some losses on gains in utilities, real estate, retail and infomation technology (IT) including the Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex, PLX), Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG), No Va Land Investment Group Corporation (Novaland, NVL) and FPT Corporation (FPT).

According to an analyst from Bảo Việt Securities Company, the benchmark is expected to move sideways with some up and down sessions in ranges of 1,374 - 1,385 points in the upper bound and 1,300 - 1,330 points in the lower bound. 

"The market continues to witness strong division between stock lines at the moment. And cash flows will shift alternatively among small/medium-cap stocks or large-cap stocks that haven't gained much in previous rallies," the company added. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index fell 0.78 per cent to 316.24 points, weighed by losses in large-cap stocks. The HNX30-Index decreased by 0.65 per cent to 502.24 points. 

During the session, over 144.1 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth more than VNĐ3.2 trillion. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors were net sellers on both exchanges, with a total value of VNĐ1.13 trillion. Of which, they net sold a value of nearly VNĐ1.1 trillion on HoSE, and a value of VNĐ33.72 billion on HNX. VNS