Foreign investors were net sellers on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) for the ninth consecutive session to the tune of over VND430 billion ($17.7 million) on Monday.
They mainly net sold banking stocks such as STB of Sacombank and VPB of VPBank.
The VN-Index, representing the HoSE, inched up 1.06 points, or 0.09%, to 1,125.5.
Trading value on the major bourse reached 14.6 trillion ($601.87 million), a decline of VND3.8 trillion from the previous session, with 302 tickers losing and 215 gaining.
The VN30 index, which tracks the performance of 30 largest cap stocks, gained 2.45 points to 1,117.34, with 14 losers and 12 gainers.
Among the blue chips, VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes had the most positive impact on the market, expanding 3.4%, followed by VIC of Vingroup (2.6%), MSN of Masan Group, GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group, VNM of Vinamilk and VRE of Vincom Retail (all over 2%).
On the contrary, the banking group was the most negative influencer as all major codes such as STB of Sacombank, BID of BIDV, VPB of VPBank, VCB of Vietcombank, VIB of Vietnam International Bank, TPB of TPBank, TCB of Techcombank, and MBB of MBBank closed in the red.
In the mid-cap group, stocks of securities and construction materials companies remained in the green, while real estate tickers were under selling pressure.
Three securities stocks were named in the top five in terms of trading value on the HoSE. They were VIX of VIX Securities with nearly VND700 billion ($28.86 million), SSI of Saigon Securities (more than VND649 billion), and VND of VNDirect Securities (over VND500 billion).
The HNX-Index on the Hanoi bourse expanded 0.07% to 231.37, while the UpCOM-Index on the unlisted public company market gained 0.27% to 85.48.