The two benchmark indices ended lower Wednesday morning on strong sell-offs in the early session.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) declined by 2.85 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 1,494.91 points. It surged nearly 15 points yesterday after witnessing a strong correction on Monday.

The market's breadth was negative with 315 stocks decreasing, while liquidity improved, with more than 536.3 million shares traded on the southern market, worth nearly VND17.1 trillion (US$747.1 million).

Foreign investors continued to net buy on HoSE with a value of more than VND100 billion.

The market's reversal was due to rising selling pressure, despite gains in many large-cap stocks.

Accordingly, the VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, rose 6.32 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 1,506.89 points. In the VN30 basket, 15 stocks increased, while 13 slid and two stayed flat.

The index was weighed down with losses in Vinhomes (VHM), PV Gas (GAS), Novaland (NVL), Development Investment Construction JSC (DIG) and Masan Group, of which VHM led the downtrend, decreasing 1.57 per cent.

However, the losses was pared by gains in bank stocks, with BIDV (BID) posting biggest increase of 3.77 per cent, followed by MBBank (MBB), VPBank (VPB) and Vietcombank (VCB).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also reported a drop of 5.28 points, or 1.14 per cent, to 455.96 points. VNS