Hanoi (VNA) - Shares sank on both local markets on May 30 as stocks were hitby investor selling, taking profits following a recent market rally.

Thebenchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 1.08 percent to close at738.21 points, recording the worst daily decline since the beginning of theyear.

Thebenchmark index reversed a two-day increase of 0.6 percent.

TheHNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange edged down 0.60 percent to end at 93.24points, posting the first loss after a four-day rally of 2.1 percent.

Morethan 335 million shares were traded on the two local bourses, worth 6 trillion VND(266.6 million USD). The figures were higher than the previous day’s numbers.

Stronginvestor selling put large-cap stocks under pressure and sent most of them downon May 30.

TheVN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest companies by marketcapitalisation, lost 1.5 percent with 27 stocks in the index declining bybetween 4.1 percent and 0.3 percent.

Losersranged from large-cap companies such as Vietcombank (VCB), property developerVingroup (VIC), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) to Kinh Bac City Development Holding(KBC) and Thanh Thanh Cong Tay Ninh Sugar JSC (SBT).

Accordingto market data provided by vietstock.vn, 18 out of 20 industries in the marketwere down with banking-financial stocks performing the worst.

Amongthose industries, the brokerage sector index slumped 3.1 percent, the bankingsector index fell 1.5 percent and the insurance sector index lost 2 percent.

Thebrokerage sector recorded the hardest fall, as most brokerage shares hadpreviously surpassed their old peaks such as HCM City Securities (HCM) and SaigonSecurities (SSI).

Investorsentiment was also pulled down by sliding oil prices. Brent crude decreased by0.9 percent to trade at 51.81 USD a barrel, pushing the energy sector index inVietnam’s stock market down 2 percent.

Accordingto Saigon-Hanoi Securities (SHS), the May 30 fall erased all gains the VN Indexmade in the previous trading week, but it was a necessary decline to help easeinvestors’ worries about margin lending and create a firm foundation for thestock market to rise further.

SHSnoted that the market would struggle in the short term, but its long-term andmid-term prospects would remain positive. “The VN Index on May 31 could bounceback to the range of 739-743 points if it succeeds to stay above the 734-737level.”-VNA