Investors at VPBank Securities Company. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Vietnamese shares declined on Wednesday morning due to investors’ profit-taking attempts that hit large-cap stocks in the finance and real estate sectors.

The benchmark VN Index on HCM Stock Exchange dropped 0.68 per cent to close at 1.189,92 points. It had dropped 0.52 per cent on Tuesday.

The HNX Index on Ha Noi Stock Exchange fell 1.13 per cent to end at 135,14 points, extending its downtrend from the previous 0.8 per cent decline.

More than 173.7 million shares, worth VNĐ4.9 trillion (US$214 million), were traded on the two local exchanges.

Declining stocks dominated the two bourses, outnumbering gainers by 304 to 127, which proved that investor confidence was quite low in the morning session.

Large-cap stocks underperformed as the VN30 Index lost 0.71 per cent to reach 1.159,81 points, with 19 declining stocks against nine gainers among the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation.

Across the stock market, securities, real estate, agriculture and finance were the worst-performing industries.

Their indices declined between 0.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent, according to data of vietstock.vn.

Meanwhile, insurance-finance companies and the energy sector drove the indices against the poor performance of other sectors.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS