The market retreated to close lower on Monday, underlying a strong bearish sentiment.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index started off the afternoon under the baseline. It moved up and down and reached just above the baseline at about 2:30pm.

Unfortunately, buying forces were not strong enough to keep the bullish movement. The index gradually fell from the peak and eventually hit 1,277.35 points, down 3.16 points (0.25 per cent) against the previous session.

The market's breadth was negatively skewed as decliners outnumbered advancers by 201 to 142. Among the stocks, eight hit ceiling prices whereas six sat at the other end.

HoSE was not so busy yesterday since investors traded just 466 million shares on the exchange, equivalent to about VND11.6 trillion (US$494 million).

The VN30-Index echoed the VN-Index pattern but with a larger loss. It lost 3.29 points (0.25 per cent) to reach 1,298.15 points. In the basket, six stocks climbed, three stayed flat and 21 slid.

Vietcombank (VCB) was leading the market's slump with a loss of 1.67 per cent. Other stocks behind the bearish trend include BIDV (BID), VPBank (VPB), Mobile World Investment (MWG) and Investment and Industrial Development (BCM).

The retail sector was the main catalyst for the downturn with a sector-wide drop of 1.57 per cent. In the sector, Mobile World Investment (MWG) lost 2.03 per cent, followed by Viglacera (VGC) and Saigon General Service (SVC).

Banking was the next sector dragging down indices as it was overrun by decliners including Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID) and VPBank (VPB). Overall, the sector lost 6.06 points (1.05 per cent) yesterday.

In the realty sector, the trio stocks of the Vin family - Vingroup (VIC), Vinhomes (VHM) and Vincom (VRE) - saw mixed results. The first gained 0.47 per cent, the second stayed flat, whereas the last lost 0.54 per cent.

"Realty sector coming to a standstill amid tightened bank credit, coupled with a slow disbursement of public money, has been holding back steel producers," said a securities expert.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) bucked the bearish trend by gaining 0.9 points (0.31 per cent) to reach 292.82 points.

Foreign investors withdrew money from the market by net-selling a total of around VND379.92 billion worth of shares on the two exchanges. Of which, they net sold VND417.93 billion on HoSE and net bought VND38.01 billion on HNX. — VNS