Vietnamese shares opened the trading week lower, dragged down by large-cap companies as they were hit by strong selling.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.83 per cent to close Monday morning at 917.16 points.

The benchmark gained 2.67 per cent in total last week.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange shed 1.31 per cent to end at 104.36 points.

The northern market index jumped total 3.89 per cent in the previous week.

Trading liquidity was low with nearly 98 million shares being traded on the two exchanges, worth nearly VND2 trillion (US$87.8 million).

The market was pulled down by the underperformance of large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket.

The VN30 Index, which tracks the movement of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation, was down 0.77 per cent to 896.49 points.

Of the 30 largest stocks in the basket, 24 declined while only four advanced.

Among decliners were dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), digital retailer Mobile World (MWG), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and Phu Nhuan Jewellery JSC (PNJ).

Strong selling also hit 15 of the 20 sectors, according to vietstock.vn.

Data from the business and finance news site showed the sectors with the worst performances were insurance-banking-brokerage, food and beverage, and retail.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. – VNS