An HDBank transaction office in HCM City. HDB lost 2.5 per cent on Monday. — Photo courtesy of HDBank

HÀ NỘI — Shares suffered a strong correction on Monday on the two stock exchanges as selling pressure hit many large-caps.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 1.6 per cent to 950.79 points.

The southern market index ended last week at 966.29 points. It was the benchmark’s highest level since January 22 when it reached 991.46 points.

Nearly 519 million shares were traded on the southern exchange on Monday, worth VNĐ10.2 trillion (US$441.6 million).

BIDV Securities Co said the VN-Index was still in an upward movement at the beginning of the morning session but the selling pressure increased gradually and peaked at the end of the afternoon so the index moved down to close to 950 points.

Declining stocks dominated the southern bourse, outnumbering gainers by 305 to 146, which proved that investor confidence was low in the session.

The VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, lost 1.64 per cent to end Monday at 915.97 points.

Large-cap stocks performed poorly due to the strong selling pressure, such as Masan Group (MSN), decreasing by 6.9 per cent, Vingroup (VIC), down 5 per cent, HDBank (HDB), dropping by 2.5 per cent, Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ), slumping by 2.3 per cent, Vinhomes (VHM), decreasing by 2.2 per cent, Sabeco (SAB), losing by 1.7 per cent.

Across the stock market, 22 out of 25 sectors indices lost ground, including energy, banking, seafood processing, construction materials, plastics and chemical production, wholesale, insurance, securities, retail, healthcare, information and technology, food and beverage, real estate and construction.

Their indices declined between 0.5 per cent and 4.2 per cent, according to data of vietstock.vn.

According to BIDV Securities Co, the 940-950 point range is a good support area, so the selling pressure may decrease in the next sessions.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined 0.95 per cent to 143.36 points.

Nearly 61 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ895 billion.

Foreigners net sold VNĐ402.93 billion on HOSE. They were net sellers on the HNX with a value of VNĐ3.65 billion. — VNS