The benchmark VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), plummeted 20.22 points, or 1.6%, to 1,243.56 on Monday amid strong selling pressure.
Trading value on the major bourse surged by 57% to VND43.129 trillion ($1.74 billion), with up to 407 losers and 103 gainers.
The VN-30 basket, comprising 30 largest capped stocks, saw 28 tickers falling. Of which, GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group slid 5.9%, BCM of Becamex Investment and Industrial Development 4.3%, and CTG of VietinBank 4.2%
Two blue-chips gained, namely VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup and VRE of its retail real estate arm Vincom Retail, up 3.8% and 6.99% respectively. VRE hit its ceiling price right after information about Vingroup's divestment from Vincom Retail was announced.
The real estate group was the silver lining on the gloomy picture of the bourse which saw many tickers hit their ceiling prices such as VRE, DIG of DIC Corp., DPG of Dat Phuong Group, TCH of Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services JSC, and QCG of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Corp.
Foreign investors were net sellers on the HoSE to the tune of VND945 billion ($38.22 million). They mainly net sold FUEVFVND of exchange-traded fund DCVFMVN DIAMOND and DGC of chemical manufacturer Duc Giang Chemicals Group.
The HNX-Index, which tracks the performance of the Hanoi Stock Exchange and is home to mid and small caps, fell 1.19%, while the UPCoM-Index of the Unlisted Public Companies Market went down 1.1%.
According to Nguyen The Minh, chief analyst at Yuanta Vietnam Securities JSC, the Monday decline might come from many reasons like the upcoming derivatives maturity and the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, which prompted investors to sell their shares for profits.