Vietnamese stocks declined on Monday morning as energy firms were hurt by a steep decline in oil prices on worries about further escalation of the US-China trade war. — Photo congthuong.vn

Vietnamese shares dropped on Monday morning, dragged by energy after a steep decline of oil prices.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange fell 0.82 per cent to close at 951.99 points.

The VN-Index lost total 1.05 per cent last week.

Nearly 97 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND2.1 trillion (US$91 million).

The market was pulled down by the underperformance of energy stocks.

The fall of petroleum stocks was attributed to a steep decline of oil prices last weekend.

Brent crude lost 3.6 per cent to end last Friday at $64.5 a barrel. It continued falling 1.4 per cent on Monday morning.

The energy and mining sector index tumbled 2.4 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Among decliners were PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) – two biggest firms by market value in the industry.

GAS dipped 2.3 per cent and PVD plunged 2.9 per cent.

Negative market sentiment was also seen in 24 other sectors on rising worries about the US-China trade war.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index went down 0.52 per cent to end at 103.81 points.

The northern market index shed nearly 1 per cent last week.

More than 23 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VND235.4 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS