The stock market opened the week on a negative note, weighed by lingering selling pressure.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index ended the Monday session at 1,043.7 points, a decline of 11.6 points, or 1.1 per cent. The index fell for the second week in a row last week.

The market's breadth was in negative territory as the number of decreasing stocks outnumbered the gaining ones. Specifically, 285 ticker symbols on the southern exchange inched lower, of which 43 stocks hit floor prices, while 59 stocks added points.

However, liquidity improved with a trading value on HoSE up more than 28 per cent over the previous session to VND10.5 trillion (US$443.1 million). The value was equal to a trading volume of over 681.3 million shares.

The index extended the recent bearish trend due to a persistent strong selling force. The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, also recorded poor performance on Monday.

The 30 biggest stocks trackers dipped by 8.34 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 1,040.4 points. In the VN30 basket, 21 stocks slid, while eight increased and one ended flat.

Leading the downtrend were influential names on the stock market. Particularly, Viecombank (VCB) was the biggest loser in market capitalisation, down 1.06 per cent.

It was followed by Vinhomes (VHM), VPBank (VPB), Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), and Vingroup (VIC). All the stocks posted a fall of at least 1.1 per cent.

Losses were capped by gains of some other pillar stocks, led by BIDV (BID) with an increase of 3.38 per cent. Masan Group (MSN), Sacombank (STB), Sabeco (SAB), and Vincom Retail (VRE) were also among ticker symbols helping cushion the market's downside risk.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) also registered a second daily loss on Monday. Accordingly, it lost 4.01 points, or 1.92 per cent, to 204.49 points.

During the trading session, nearly 82.7 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth over VND1.1 trillion.

Foreign investors were net sellers on the market as they net sold VND80.2 billion on HoSE, while net bought a value of VND16.16 billion on HNX. — VNS