Vietnam's stock market edged lower on Monday morning as bank stocks faced correction pressure.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index fell 25.71 points, or 1.87 per cent, to 1,348.34 points.

The market's breadth turned negative as 286 stocks declined, while 125 stocks rose. However, the liquidity was still high with over 580.9 million shares traded on the southern market, worth more than VND18.9 trillion (US$821.4 million).

The market's reversal was due to strong selling force on bank and securities stocks.

The VN30-Index, which tracks 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on HoSE, lost 35.27 points, or 2.34 per cent, to 1,473.08 points. Of the VN30 basket, 23 stocks slid while only seven stocks inched higher.

Of the top five stocks influencing the market's trend this morning, all were from the banking sector with Vietcombank (VCB) posting the biggest losses in market capitalisation. The bank shares fell 2.76 per cent.

It was followed by JSC Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV, BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Techcombank (TCB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB). These stocks declined 2.23 - 4.9 per cent.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also plunged 3.72 per cent to 317.49 points. VNS