On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost over 0.7 percent of its value to close at 419.30 points on July 2, the first trading day of the week.

The value of trades dropped 38 percent from July 29's level to reach just 620.5 billion VND (29.5 million USD) on a volume of only 38.6 million shares. Losers overwhelmed gainers by 174-55.

The VN30 Index, tracking the exchange's best stocks, also retreated by 1 percent to 492.66 points.

Among the 30 leading shares, only two managed gains, commercial baker Kinh Do (KDC) and food processor Masan Group (MSN).

Meanwhile, construction stocks bottomed like HCM City Infrastructure Investment Co (CII), Khang Dien House (KDH) and Sudico (SJS) all bottomed out.

Sacombank (STB) concluded the day as the most-active share with nearly 2 million traded. STB fell 0.9 percent to close at 22,000 VND per share.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index closed off by 1.4 percent to 70.09 points on very sluggish trades, with just 24.3 million shares changing hands, worth a mere 223.2 billion VND (10.6 million USD ).

With 3.3 million shares exchanged, VNDirect Securities Co (VND) became the most-active code nationwide.-VNA