Vinhomes Central Park 3 Capitalland in HCM City. Shares of the company decreased 1.9 per cent on Monday morning. — Photo booking.com

Shares ended Monday morning on a negative note as many blue-chips lost ground and put pressure on the overall market.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.37 per cent to close the morning trade at 961.54 points.

The index inched down 0.16 per cent last Friday to finish last week at 965.14 points.

More than 92.3 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.6 trillion (US$69.3 million).

Declining stocks outnumbered gainers by 204 to 94, while 46 stocks ended flat.

Among companies’ shares that weighed on the market were Vinhomes (VHM), Vicostone Joint Stock Company (VCS), Techcombank (TCB), Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB). VHM decreased 1.9 per cent, VSC lost 1.9 per cent, TCB slumped 1.5 per cent and SHB decreased 1.5 per cent.

On the positive side, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) soared by nearly 3 per cent and was the only pillar of the market this morning.

On a sector basis, 19 out of 25 sectors on the market declined, including wholesale, insurance, real estate, securities, information and technology, retail, healthcare, banking, agriculture, seafood processing, construction materials and logistics.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched decreased 0.40 per cent to end at 101.98 points.

More than 14.6 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND188.4 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS