Large-cap shares lost value yesterday, with Monday blues dragging down prices on the HCM City Stock Exchange.

The benchmark VN-Index dropped more than 0.3 per cent to 397 points, while the VN30, tracking the top 30 shares on the bourse, lost 0.4 per cent to close on 469.39 points.
Trading value went up by 13 per cent over the previous session, totalling VND729.4 billion (US$34.7 million), boosted by major transactions on shares of Sacombank (STB) and Eximbank (EIB).

Almost 7.8 million STB shares, worth VND147.93 billion ($7 million), and 6 million EIB shares, worth VND99 billion ($4.7 million), were traded through negotiations. However, STB declined by 2 per cent to VND19,600 ($0.93) while EIB dropped 1.8 per cent to VND16,000 ($0.76).
Other blue chips also slumped. PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) and Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) plunged to the floor price while property developers Kinh Bac City Development (KBC) and VinGroup (VIC) and food processor Masan Group (MSN) decreased from 0.6-4.4 per cent.
KBC, together with telecom equipment maker Sacom Development and Investment (SAM), led the market on a total trade of over 2 million shares on each code.

Investors seemed to be concerned about the upcoming National Assembly meeting, as well as data on the CPI (consumer price index), said stock analysts of Viet Nam Investment Securities Co in a report.

"Southern Long An Province is the first region to announce its CPI data with a rise of 1.4 percent against the previous month and this has led to concerns about rising national CPI because the national CPI is often similar to that of the regions," they said.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also fell 0.71 per cent to 54.35 points, on a turnover of VND183.3 billion ($8.7 million).

Market conditions were decidedly negative with 131 dropping, 55 rising and 210 closing flat.
PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) continued to dominate the northern market with 4.4 million shares changing hands, but the shares sank 6.4 per cent to stand at VND4,400 each.

While domestic investors unloaded shares, foreign investors continued to buy in, picking up a total VND11.8 billion ($562,000) worth of shares on both stock exchanges.