Vietnamese shares tumbled on Monday due to a massive sell-off from investors, affecting many large-cap stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange dropped 1.81 per cent to close at 973.15 points.

Nearly 196 million shares were exchanged on the southern market, worth VND7 trillion.

The VN-Index declined 0.22 per cent last week.

The market opened the week with heavy pressure from many large-cap stocks. Pillar stocks of the market were sold strongly and simultaneously decreased, specifically Vingroup (VIC) (-3.7 per cent), Vinhomes (VHM) (-5.5 per cent), Vincom Retail (VRE) (-3.4 per cent), Vietcombank (VCB) (-2.1 per cent), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) (-1.4 per cent), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) (-1.9 per cent), Vinamilk (VNM) (-1.6 per cent), Masan Group (MSN) (-2.8 per cent) and Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) (-2.9 per cent).

Besides GAS, many stocks in the oil and gas group such as PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD), and PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC) also declined.

In the opposite direction, some large-caps grew such as Mobile World Group (MWG) (+ 1.4 per cent) and FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company (ROS) (+2.2 per cent), but they could not save the market from a strong decline.

Asia Reach Investments Limited registered to sell nearly 1.3 million shares of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) from August 6 to September 4. At the same time, First Burns Investments Limited also registered to sell over 513,200 ACB shares.

On a sector basis, dragging the market down were oil and gas, real estate, securities, insurance, seafood processing, and food and beverages, data on viestock.vn showed.

Large-cap stocks underperformed, pulling the VN30-Index down 1.46 per cent to 872.39 points, with 20 of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity declining.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange fell 0.77 per cent to end Monday at 102.91 points.

The northern market index lost 0.52 per cent last week.

Net selling value of foreign investors was VND290.12 billion on HOSE, including Vietjet Air (VJC) (VND62.78 billion), Hoa Phat Group (HPG) (VND56.99 billion) and Vincom Retail (VRE) (VND44.29 billion). They were also net sellers on HNX with a value of VND15.38 billion.

According to BIDV Securities Company (BSC), the market had a negative trading session following the general trend in the region when concerns about the possibility of a worsening of the Sino-US trade war were underpinned by the Chinese central bank's move to adjust the exchange rate.

Investors should be cautious when trading at this time because the market's fluctuations could continue in coming sessions, the company said in its daily report. — VNS