Shares fell on Friday morning, reversing course from yesterday, as strong selling pressure weighed on the market.
On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index dropped 0.65 per cent to 1,285.32 points. The market's breadth was negative with 248 stocks declining while 103 climbed.
However the market's liquidity was higher than yesterday as over VND10.85 trillion (US$470.75 million) was poured into the southern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 334.74 million shares.
The index's reversal was mainly driven by losses of large-cap stocks, mostly in banking and material stocks. The VN30-Index declined 0.66 per cent to end the morning trade at 1,419.09 points.
Twenty-two of 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket plunged while only six rose and two stayed unchanged.
Bank stocks led the market's trend this morning, with Vietcombank (VCB) posting the biggest losses in market capitalisation, down 1.89 per cent.
It was followed by Masan Group (MSN), Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Techcombank (TCB), down 2.36 per cent, 1.48 per cent and 1.57 per cent, respectively.
The index pared some losses on gains of some big stocks, including Sacombank (STB), Vingroup (VIC) and FPT Corporation (FPT) with gains in a range of 0.56 - 4.46 per cent.
On Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also witnessed a decrease of 0.49 per cent to 304.48 points. VNS