The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) was down 0.69 per cent to close at 996.14 points. — Photo cafef.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares retreated on Tuesday morning as cautiousness cast cloud over the market amid profit-taking pressure strong right from the beginning of trading hours.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) was down 0.69 per cent to close at 996.14 points.

The southern market index closed Monday at 1,003.08 points, down 0.71 per cent.

Nearly 346 million shares were traded on the southern exchange on Tuesday morning, worth VNĐ6.6 trillion (US$284.5 million).

Market breadth was negative with 317 decliners and 104 gainers.

The VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, declined 0.42 per cent to end Tuesday morning at 961.83 points.

In the VN-30 basket, 24 stocks dropped while five increased.

Heavyweight stocks suffered selling pressure and declined toward the end of the session, such as Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), FPT Corporation (FPT), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG), Novaland (NVL), Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), Techcombank (TCB), Vingroup (VIC), Vietjet (VJC) and Sabeco (SAB).

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.09 per cent to close Tuesday morning at 147.57 points.

It had lost 0.31 per cent to close Monday at 147.70 points.

Nearly 43.4 million shares were traded on the exchange, worth VNĐ751 trillion. — VNS