The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) decreased by 0.37 per cent to 1,254.08 points. Photo cafef.vn

Shares dropped on Tuesday morning due to strong profit-taking weighing on banking stocks.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) decreased by 0.37 per cent to 1,254.08 points.

The market breadth was positive as 130 stocks rose while 265 stocks slid.

The liquidity was low with over 374 million shares traded on HoSE, worth more than VND11.2 trillion.

The VN30-Index, which tracks 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on the southern bourse, rose 0.16 per cent to 1.373,60 points.

As many as six stocks in the VN30 basket were up while 18 stocks declined and six stocks stayed flat.

Bank stocks performed poorly on selling pressure, including Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB) and HDBank (HDB).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index declined 1.25 per cent to 293.08 points. VNS