Viet Nam's stock market made a negative start to the new trading week as shares declined across the two national exchanges.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM City Stock Exchange lost 0.91 per cent to close this morning at 391.90 points.

Overall trading was sluggish with just 15.6 million shares, worth VND301 billion (US$14.3 million), changing hands this morning.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 144-44, with blue chip companies among the hardest hit.
Steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) dropped to the floor while insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), Sacombank (STB), Vietinbank (CTG) and Vietcombank (VCB), closed down by 1-4 per cent.

Eximbank (EIB) bucked the market trend, posting a gain of 4.3 per cent. It was also the most active code with a whopping 1.65 million shares changing hands.

The VN30 tracking the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity was down 0.28 per cent overall to 456.23 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also slumped 0.48 per cent to end at 56.44 points with a total modest value of VND91 billion ($4.3 million).
Fallers dwarfed jumpers by 130-32.

Despite posting a heavy loss in the first half of this year, shares in PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) were still being hunted. More than 1.5 million PVX shares changed hands this morning, making it the most active code but despite this, the shares closed flat at VND4,600 each.
Investors also ignored scandals around the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and still bought over 1 million ACB shares this morning. ACB gained 3.5 per cent to finish at VND16,900 ($0.80) a share.

Trading will resume at 1pm