Vietnamese shares fell on Monday as investors reacted badly to higher death toll caused by coronavirus during the weekend. - Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Vietnamese shares declined on Monday morning as market sentiment worsened following reports on the rising coronavirus death toll.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange fell 0.70 per cent to close at 934.12 points.

It lost as much as 1.50 per cent in the morning before picking up.

The VN-Index gained a total of 0.44 per cent last week.

Nearly 90.6 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.5 trillion (US$64.6 million).

The market breadth was negative as declining stocks outnumbered gainers by 221 to 107.

The market sentiment turned bad after the Chinese authorities reported the coronavirus death toll had risen during the weekend.

Other Asian markets also traded negatively on Monday.

Twenty of the 25 sector indices closed the morning session in negative territory.

The worst-performing ones included insurance, banking, technology, retail, transportation and logistics, food and beverage, and seafood processing.

On the contrary, pharmaceuticals and healthcare cushioned the market.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index dropped 0.64 per cent to end at 104.24 points.

The northern market index rose a total of 2.5 per cent last week.

More than 22 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND245 billion. – VNS