The disappointing outcome of the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks in Hawaii weakened local shares.
The failure to make meaningful progress negatively impacted export shares, especially seafood and textile companies, and reduced market confidence amongst many investors expecting a conclusion of the trade deal.
Shares that would have benefited from successful talks - Thanh Cong Textile Garment Investment Trading Joint Stock Company (TCM) or Hung Vuong Corporation (HVG) - hit their floor values on August 3.
Market liquidity was high with a combined total of 183.8 million shares traded, worth 3.3 trillion VND (151.78 million USD).
At the session's close, the VN-Index on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange lost 11.59 points, dropping to 609.47 points, and decliners outnumbered gainers by 174 to 48.
The index opened on a high but declined sharply as investors increased selling volumes.
Blue chips and leading sectors on the stock market also felt the impact of the Hawaii report. None of the four largest-cap shares ended the session in the positive. Vietcombank (VCB) dropped 2,000 VND and Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VNM), PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS) and Ma San Group Corporation (MSN) lost 1,000 VND.
In the VN30 tab which contains the 30 largest shares in terms of market capital and liquidity, only the HCM City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII) fared well with a gain of 3.07 percent in value.
Among 25 decliners in the VN30 basket, Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) hit floor value and FLC topped market trades with more than 7.2 million shares exchanged.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 2.13 per cent to finish at 83.31 points with only 48 codes gaining.
Of HNX30 Index shares, only three gained while 23 lost value.
Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) – a key share on the northern market – declined but topped the northern market trading with 6.5 million shares exchanged, followed by FIT Investment JSC (FIT) and KLF Joint Venture Global Investment (KLF).
Foreign investors also expressed trepidation caused by the failed TPP talks by increasing their net sell values on both bourses, however they still recorded a net buy value of 18.36 billion VND (842,200 USD).-VNA