The shares of 179 companies and four mutual funds on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged back down Thursday after one day of gains as investors responded to the bearish trend.

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-index tumbled 3.06 percent or 18.37 points, the steepest decline this month to close at 581.49. Trading volume also dropped to around 86.8 million shares, worth VND4.24 trillion (US$237.7 million).

Among the index members, 157 fell, 16 gained and 10 remained unchanged.

Declines in the southern market were led by the Hanoi-based Petrolimex Gas Joint Stock Co. (PGC), Savimex Economic Cooperation and Export-Import Joint Stock Co. (SAV) in HCM City, and Taya Electric Wire and Cable Joint Stock Co. or Taya Vietnam (TYA) in Dong Nai Province neighboring the city.

Saigon Commercial Bank or Sacombank (STB) returned to the spot of most active shares with nearly 6.8 million shares traded on the city bourse, followed by Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), Vietnam’s largest listed brokerage, with more than 4.4 million shares changing hands. The city-based Vietnam Export Import Bank or Eximbank (EIB) remained active for the third listing day with nearly 4 million shares traded.

The northern market was also in the red as the HNX-Index dropped below 200 to 196.14, down 7.37 points or 3.62 percent over Wednesday. More than 42 million shares were traded at VND1.7 trillion.

Meanwhile UPCoM-Index gained 0.54 points or 0.75 percent to 72.73. A total of VND28.58 million was spent trading 1,800 shares.

On the global market, major market indexes in the US fell by the largest amount in about a month after an announcement that new home sales dropped for the first time in five months.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 119 points, or 1.2 percent, its third straight triple-digit drop while the Nasdaq composite index fell 2.7 percent.

Japanese stocks fell, also dragging the Nikkei 225 Stock Average to its biggest fall in four weeks as corporate losses and falling commodity prices raised concern the global recovery is faltering.