Vietnamese shares dropped on Monday, weighed down by market heavyweights as profit-taking pressure increased significantly towards the closing minutes of trading.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) declined 0.60 per cent, or 7.66 points, to finish the trading day at 1,258.70 points.

The benchmark had increased 0.54 per cent last week.

The market breadth Monday was negative as 278 stocks declined while 141 rose and 41 ended flat.

The market’s liquidity was high with over 758 million shares traded on the southern market, worth VND22.8 trillion (US$992 million).

The market witnessed strong volatility at the end of the trading session. A series of large stocks dropped sharply, extending the decrease of the VN-Index.

Masan Group (MSN), Vietjet (VJC) and Thanh Thanh Cong Bien Hoa JSC (SBT) were among the decliners, down more than 3 per cent each. Vinamilk (VNM), Phat Dat Real Estate (PDR), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Khang Dien House (KDH) were among those that lost more than 2 per cent.

On the other side, Vinhomes (VHM) continued to lead this group with a gain of more than 3 per cent, Novaland (NVL) and Tien Phong Bank (TPB) advanced by more than 2 per cent.

At the end of the session, plastic-chemical production and food and beverage were the two sectors that dropped sharply, down over 2 per cent.

Agriculture-forestry-fishery, household appliance, insurance and many other industries decreased by more than 1 per cent. Seafood processing was one of the growing industries in the market with a growth rate of more than 1 per cent.

Many investors were confused as the VN-Index still had not shown any clear trend. The strong demand appearing whenever the market shook was a sign that investors are still confident in the stock market's uptrend, said news site cafef.vn.

However, the selling pressure was still quite strong. As the VN-Index was hovering at its historic peak, selling pressure is inevitable. Investors needed to observe and analyse whether the demand would be strong enough to create a new price level, it said.

The 30 biggest stocks tracker, VN30-Index, lost 0.63 per cent to finish Monday at 1,371.36 points.

Of the VN30 basket, eight stocks increased while 22 decreased.

Meanwhile, on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 0.70 per cent to close Monday at 296.79 points.

The index posted a significant rise of 5.2 per cent last week.

During the session, nearly 196 million shares were traded on HNX, worth VND4.3 trillion. — VNS