The VN-Index tumbled 2.65 percent, or 22.62 points to 829.36 points, falling to its lowest level since May 15. In this period, the index had peaked at 900 points on June 10, but profit-taking pressure for many consecutive sessions is causing the current corrective trend, analysts said.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), Vietnam’s main bourse on which the VN-Index is based, saw a whopping 358 stocks lose and just 53 gaining.

Total transaction volume was VND5.56 trillion ($240 million), an increase of 30 percent over the previous session, but still much lower than trading in May, a month of strong recovery for the VN-Index, when it had surged as high as VND7 trillion ($302 million) in multiple sessions.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, plunged 2.76 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market shed 1.6 percent.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest capped stocks dropped 2.6 percent, with 28 tickers losing and two gaining.

Topping losses were SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., and VPB of private VPBank, all falling 4.5 percent..

They were followed by POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, down 3.9 percent, BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group, down 3.7 percent.

BID of Vietnam’s biggest state-owned lender by assets, BIDV, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, and PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan jewelry, all shed 3.5 percent. BID and GAS are two of the 10 biggest capped tickers on the VN30.

Of state-owned banks, CTG of giant VietinBank dropped 2.9 percent, and VCB of giant Vietcombank fell 2.2 percent, while MBB of mid-sized Military Bank lost 2.9 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the largest capped stock on the HoSE, shed 2.9 percent, a significant loss given that this ticker seldom moves more than 2 percent each session. VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail was down 3.1 percent, and VHM of its real estate arm Vinhomes dropped 2.1 percent.

In the opposite direction, CTD of construction giant Coteccons surged 4.8 percent, bucking the general market trend. The ticker had been fluctuating wildly within the last week, rising to its ceiling price twice but falling 6.1 percent in a session, after Coteccons announced a major personnel change to its board of directors last Monday.

Coteccons had revealed that Nguyen Sy Cong and Nguyen Tat Thang, two of its top executives, would resign and be replaced with personnel from Kustocem and The8th, two Singapore-based construction investors, who own 18.23 percent and 10.42 percent of the Vietnamese construction giant, respectively.

The only other gaining ticker was EIB of private Eximbank, which rose 1.4 percent.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers on all three bourses to the tune of VND150 billion ($6.48 million), with selling pressure mostly on VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, which fell 2.2 percent, and VIC of Vingroup.

Analysts forecast Monday morning that the stock market could see some serious losses this week, after the VN-Index fell for four consecutive sessions, snuffing out the excitement over the May recovery.

The narrowing of trading volume for the second week in a row has prevented the stock market from rising above the 870-point resistance threshold, they said.