Shares reversed on Thursday due to the abrupt declines of large-caps in the banking group towards the final minutes of trading.
The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 0.21 per cent to end at 1,482.05 points.
It had gained 0.46 per cent to end Wednesday at 1,485.19 points.
The market's breadth was negative with 212 stocks rising, while 260 slid.
Market liquidity declined compared to the previous session as investors poured over VND23 trillion (US$1 billion) into the southern exchange, equivalent to a trading volume of 764 million shares.
The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index lost 0.58 per cent, to end at 1,540.88 points. Seventeen in the VN30 basket decreased, while 13 increased.
In the VN-30 basket, the worst performers were Vinhomes (VHM), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Mobile World Group (MWG), FPT Corporation (FPT), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE).
Some other blue-chips still gained ground and helped prevent the market from falling deeper, such as Vingroup (VIC), Novaland (NVL), Vietjet (VJC) and Masan Group (MSN).
Banking stocks fell and put great pressure on the overall market, with losers including Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (STB), Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Military Bank (MBB) and Vietinbank (CTG), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB), Tien Phong Bank (TPB) and Lien Viet Post Bank (LPB).
According to data from FiinPro, domestic individual investors boosted their net buying to a record of VND15.2 trillion in November on HoSE, 6.7 times higher than in October. In terms of order matching, the value reached VND14.4 billion. Thus, domestic individuals have been net buyers for 11 months in 2021 with a total value of VND84.2 trillion.
Fifteen out of 25 sectors on the market decreased, including information and technology, banking, oil and gas, securities and retail.
On the other side, gainers were wholesale, real estate, healthcare, agriculture, food and beverage, rubber production and seafood processing.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained 0.53 per cent to end Thursday at 458.23 points.
During the trading session, nearly 124 million shares were traded on HNX, worth nearly VND3 trillion. — VNS