Indices were little changed yesterday as the market struggled to find momentum, while large-cap stocks still faced a sell-off.
On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index dropped slightly after recovering from the recent losses, up more than 52 points in the last two sessions. It finished yesterday at 1,350.99 points, down 2.78 points, or 0.21 per cent.
The market's breadth was positive with 240 stocks edging higher, while 186 stocks slid. However, liquidity decreased compared to the previous session and stayed at low levels, with over VND13.3 trillion (US$580 million) worth of shares, equal to more than 485.1 million shares, traded on the southern market.
The index's reversal was mainly due to losses in pillar stocks as the selling force was still lingering. Of which, the 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index slipped by 1.15 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 1,400.88 points.
In the VN30 basket, only seven stocks increased, while 19 declined and four ended flat.
Data compiled by vietstock.vn showed that PV Gas (GAS) posted the biggest loss, down nearly 3 per cent. In the morning, Vietcombank (VCB) was the one leading the downtrend, but it recovered in the afternoon trade and ended unchanged.
Other big stocks contributing to the losses were Masan Group (MSN), Sabeco (SAB), BIDV (BID) and Vinhomes, down at least 1.34 per cent.
However, the market benchmark's loss was capped by gains in some large-cap stocks, mainly in the banking sector. These stocks were as Becamex (BCM), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Techcombank (TCB), VPBank (VPB) and FPT Corporation (FPT), up in a range of 1.4-6.14 per cent.
On the contrary, the HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) extended gains for the third straight session, up 3.11 points, or 0.87 per cent, to 360.2 points.
During the session, nearly 79.3 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VND1.78 trillion.
Meanwhile, foreign investors continued to escape from the market after net selling a value of VND309.74 billion on both main exchanges. Of which, they net sold VND308.52 billion on HoSE, and a value of VND1.22 billion on HNX. — VNS