Vietnamese shares declined on Tuesday morning, dragged down by negative performance of large-cap stocks in the energy and banking sectors. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Vietnamese shares declined on Tuesday morning due to investors’ profit-taking attempts that hit the large-cap stocks in the energy and banking sectors.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged down 1.15 per cent to close at 1.097,18 points. It had edged down 0.69 per cent to close at 1,109.80 points on Monday.

The minor HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange dropped 0.71 per cent to end at 126.44 points.

The northern market index gained 0.42 per cent to end at 127.35 points on Monday.

Nearly 246.3 million shares, worth more than VND6 trillion (US$263.6 million), were traded on the two local exchanges.

Declining stocks outnumbered the gaining ones by 296 to 144, while 296 other stocks ended flat.

Among the worst decliners of the banking sector were Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, down 1.76 per cent; Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam, losing 2.31 per cent and Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank, moving down 2.11 per cent.

Meanwhile, the energy sector was driven down by PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation and Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation, down 9.05, 3.75 and 3.23 per cent, respectively.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS