Dairy firm Vinamilk pulled market down this morning on foreign selling. — Photo vietnamplus.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Shares ended lower in the early session, led by dairy firm Vinamilk, as foreign investors continued to withdraw from this stock.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange was down 0.4 per cent to close at 661.57 points.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange fell 0.2 per cent to end at 84.20 points.

Investor confidence remained low as exchange-traded funds were set to review their third-quarter investment portfolios, which pushed large-cap stocks down.

Foreign selling focused mainly on dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) as foreign investors sold more than 1.5 million shares of the dairy firm in the morning session. VNM dropped 2 per cent this morning.

Vinamilk was the third active stock this morning with more than 2.2 million shares traded, following steel maker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Duc Long Gia Lai Group JSC (DLG).

Other blue chips such as Vietcombank (VCB), PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) remained in the negative territory.

VCB has fallen in the last six trading days. Investors are disappointed with the deal under which the bank will sell 7.7 per cent of its capital to Singaporean sovereign fund GIC for a lower price than the current share price level.

Oil stocks GAS and PVS lost 1.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent after crude prices closed down on Tuesday.

Investors exchanged more than 77 million shares worth VND1.79 trillion (US$79.5 million). — VNS