VN-Index starts week lower

The index closed 8.24 points lower after dropping 15.12 points in the previous session.

Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange decreased by 0.37% to VND13.698 trillion (US$539.6 million).

The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 17 tickers fell.

MSN of conglomerate Masan Group dropped 3.6%, GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group slipped 3.0%, and MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World went down 2.7%.

Eight blue chips gained. BID of state-owned lender BIDV rose 1.6%, VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank closed 1.0% higher, and SHB of Saigon Hanoi Commercial Bank increased by 0.5%.

Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of VND115 billion, mainly buying STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank and VTP of logistics firm Viettel Post.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 1.20%, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market went down 0.77%.

Global stocks edged up on Monday ahead of a week crammed with U.S. economic data that will be pivotal in setting expectations for interest rates, although heightened political uncertainty kept any new-year enthusiasm in check, Reuters reported.

The MSCI All-World index rose 0.1%, reflecting a slightly patchy performance in Europe, where the STOXX 600 was up 0.1%, while Germany's DAX - 2024's top-performing major European index, was up 0.2%.

U.S. stock index futures, were up 0.1-0.3%, suggesting an extension to Friday's rally in the benchmark indices.

In China, the yuan hit a 16-month low and blue-chip stocks traded at their weakest since late September, prompting the country's stock exchanges and central bank to defend its falling markets and soothe investor concern about the impact on the world's second biggest economy of Donald Trump's imminent return to the White House.