The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 0.24 per cent to close Tuesday morning at 803.66 points. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Shares continued to trade in negative territory on the HCM Stock Exchange, driven by the significant fall of several key large-cap stocks.

The benchmark VN Index on the southern market fell 0.24 per cent to close at 803.66 points. It dropped 0.2 per cent on Monday.

More than 96 million shares were traded on the HCM City market, worth VND1.98 trillion (nearly US$88 million).

Large-cap stocks remained negative as the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity, was pulled down by 17 stocks.

Decliners among the large-cap stocks included FLC Faros Construction (ROS), consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN), insurance-finance group Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and brewer Sabeco (SAB).

Speculative stocks also ended in negative territory. Shares of property developer FLC Group (FLC) were down 0.8 per cent. FLC was also the most active stock with more than 8.3 million shares traded this morning.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index gained 0.32 per cent to end at 107.68 points. The northern market index rallied a total of 2.5 per cent in the previous four sessions.

More than 53.3 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND585.5 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS