Vietnamese shares ended Monday on a negative note as market sentiment was weighed down by the unpredictability of both local and international markets.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange fell 0.70 per cent to close at 946.95 points.

The VN-Index lost total 0.49 per cent last week.

More than 174.3 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VND4 trillion (US$172 million).

The stock market is under pressure from several key events this week worldwide, according to MB Securities Co (MBS).

Those events, including the US central bank Fed’s meeting on lending interest rates and the portfolio reviews of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), will make investors more cautious, MBS said in its daily report.

The US monetary policymakers will end their two-day meeting on Thursday, which is expected to deliver a rate cut and more in the future on expectations the global economy may collapse under pressure of the US-China trade war.

In addition, Viet Nam-focused ETFs will finish reviewing their investment portfolios on Friday and their decisions will create a mass overhaul across the two local exchanges.

Shares of PetroVietnam Power Corp (HoSE: POW) were added into the London-based FTSE ETF’s portfolio on June 6 and analysts have forecast VNM ETF will do the same thing.

Shares of PetroVietnam Power Corp (HoSE: POW) were up 2.2 per cent on Monday.

But other large-cap stocks underperformed and pulled the market down.

The large-cap VN30-Index plunged 1.01 per cent to end at 852.99 points.

Twenty-one of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket declined while only two advanced.

Overall, there were 187 declining stocks on the southern bourse while 114 stocks increased.

The worst-performing sectors included stock brokerage, real estate, retail, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, rubber, plastic and technology, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The poor performance of the market indicated “cashflow is still on the sidelines” as investors “were worrying about the short-term recovery of the market,” Thanh Cong Securities (TCSC) said in a note.

“The market condition is becoming more unpredictable given the escalation of the trade war and geo-political tensions.”

The VN-Index is expected to move between 940 and 960 points with the nearest support being 938 points, according to MBS.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index ended almost flat at 103.50 points.

The northern market index finished last Friday at 103.46 points, down total 0.72 points from the previous week.

Nearly 22.3 million shares were exchanged on the northern bourse, worth VND282 billion. – VNS