Shares continued their downward spiral this morning with both stock indices falling on rising investor caution on the market outlook.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange extended losses to four days in a row, down 0.9 per cent to 659.4 points. It lost 2.7 per cent in the last three sessions.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased 0.2 per cent to 79.9 points. The index dipped 1.6 per cent in the last three trading sessions.

Market breadth was negative with 239 out of 691 stocks tumbling while only 126 advanced.

Large-cap stocks remained on the defensive side.

Only eight of the top 30 largest shares by market capitalisation and liquidity advanced while 20 declined.

Vinamilk (VNM), the largest listed stock, recovered this morning following four-day declines, up three per cent to VND133,100 (US$5.92). The stock had fallen badly in the previous session on continuous foreign selling. Foreign investors offloaded VNM shares for seven consecutive days with total net sell value of VND893.5 billion.

On the other end of spectrum, many large stocks lost value, including Vietcombank (VCB), lender BIDV (BID), Military Bank (MBB) and Masan Group (MSN), as well as insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), PV Gas (GAS) and real estate giant VinGroup (VIC).

Low-priced shares continued to top the most-heavily traded list on the two markets, such as financial company FIT (FIT), real estate developer FLC Group (FLC), Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA), KLF Joint Venture Investment International (KLF) and Ha Noi Investment General Corp (SHN).

A total of 86.2 million shares worth nearly VND1.6 trillion ($71 million) were traded on the two markets.

Afternoon trade starts at 1pm. – VNS