Shares declined on Tuesday morning because of cautious sentiment after the holiday season.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.09 per cent to close at 983.13 points.

The index dropped total 0.84 per cent last week.

Some 89 million shares were traded on the southern bourse on Tuesday morning, worth nearly VNĐ3 trillion (US$128.3 million).

The large-cap VN30-Index dropped 0.10 per cent to end at 891.63 points with 15 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation declining.

On September 1, the new tax orders that the US and China imposed on each other’s product took effect. The US imposed a 15-per-cent tax on $112 billion of Chinese goods such as shoes, smart watches and flat-screen TVs.

In contrast, Beijing imposes a 5 to 10 per cent tax on 1,717 US products.

Many large-cap stocks lost ground such as Kido Group (KDC), FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company (ROS), Sabeco (SAB) and Tien Phong Bank (TPB). ROS fell sharply by 3.9 per cent to VND26,900 per share. TPB decreased 1.1 per cent to VND23,000 per share. KDC fell 1.8 per cent to VND21,500 per share.

Insurance, securities, energy, banking, rubber production, seafood processing, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, construction and logistics were the sectors that weighed down the stock market.

The HN-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange declined 0.31 per cent to 102.00 points on Tuesday morning.

More than 15.5 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND205 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS