The unexpected rise in petrol prices on June 14 hit the stock market on the first trading day of the week on June 17 with indices falling on both major exchanges.

Steeper declines for large-cap shares in the afternoon pushed the VN-Index down by a further 11 points, or 2.06 percent, to close the day's session at 498.52 points.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, up to 25 of the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity lost value.

The biggest losers included Southern Rubber Industry (CSM), property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG), PV Gas (GAS), software giant FPT Corp (FPT) and steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) with losses ranging between 2 to 6 percent.

The VN30 was also down 1.82 percent to 552.73 points.

However, trading remained positive, with market volume up 25 percent from the previous session to 75.8 million shares and fund certificates worth 1.4 trillion VND (66.7 million USD).

Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp (ITA), the most active code on total trades of over 5 million shares, closed down 4.94 percent at 7,700 VND (0.37 USD) a share.

The poor performance of the southern bourse also weighed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, with the HNX-Index falling 1.23 percent to 64.82 points.

Market conditions were negative as 155 codes slumped, 68 advanced and 47 closed flat.

However, the trading volume was up 50 percent from a day earlier, to more than 54 million shares worth 430 billion VND (20.5 million USD).

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) was again the most active on the northern bourse with nearly 10.3 million shares changing hands, but the shares slipped 2.8 percent to end at 7,000 VND (0.33 USD) per share.

Foreign investors concluded the day as net sellers on the HCM City market, unloading shares worth 76.7 billion VND (3.7 million USD), but they were net buyers on the Hanoi market with a slight margin of 3.3 billion VND (157,100 USD).-VNA