Shares were mixed on Monday morning with low market liquidity while large-cap stocks continued performing negatively.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched down 0.22 per cent to close at 805.35 points. It moved up 0.4 per cent on Friday.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, however, extended gains following a three-day increase of 1.7 per cent, gaining 0.22 per cent to end Monday morning at 106.75 points.

More than 122.2 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth VND2.08 trillion (US$92.5 million).

Large-cap stocks traded in negative territory as investors shifted attention to speculative stocks.

On the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity, 18 stocks declined while nine others recorded gains.

Decliners on the VN30 Index included FLC Faros Construction (ROS), Binh Minh Plastic JSC (BMP), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and steel producer Hoa Sen Group (HSG).

Consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN), Sacombank (STB) and DHG Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG) were, meanwhile, among the gainers.

Speculative stocks remained quite attractive to investors. Property developer FLC Group (FLC) was the most active stock on the market with more than six million shares traded.

The afternoon session starts at 1pm. — VNS