Shares ended lower on Tuesday as profit-taking activities weighed on securities and real estate stocks.
The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange was down 0.01 per cent to close at 1,298.74 points.
The index had plunged 2.3 per cent to end Monday at 1,298.86 points.
More than 714 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND23.4 trillion (US$1 billion).
Market breadth was negative with 145 gaining stocks and 228 losers.
The VN30-Index edged 0.44 per cent lower to 1,418.26 points. Of the VN30 basket, 22 stocks rose while six slid and two stayed unchanged.
“The market had a struggling session around 1,300 points. Market breadth remained negative with market liquidity declining compared to the previous session,” said BIDV Securities Co.
“The struggle around the psychological threshold of 1,300 points may continue in the short term as cautious sentiment dominates trading activities in the market,” it said.
Foreign investors net bought VND132.39 billion on HOSE. They were net sellers on HNX with a value of VND122.48 billion.
Towards the end of the session, the VN-Index's loss was significantly expanded as securities stocks declined strongly, such as Viet Dragon Securities Co (VDS), Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM), Viet Nam Bank For Industry and Trade Securities JSC (CTS), VIX Securities Joint Stock Company (VIX) and Petrovietnam Securities Incorporated (PSI) losing 7 per cent.
Viet Capital Incorporation (VCI), FPT Securities Joint Stock Company (FTS) and Bao Viet Securities (BVS) also declined sharply.
The real estate and construction sectors also traded quite negatively with many losers such as Development Investment Construction JSC (DIG), Hoa Binh Construction JSC (HBC), Hudland Real Estate Investment and Development JSC (HLD) and Coteccons Construction Joint Stock Company (CTD).
On the other side, petroleum stocks and steel stocks performed well and helped limit the fall of indices with gainers such as PetroVietnam gas JSC (GAS), PV Drilling (PVD), PV Coating (PVB), Binh Son Refinery (BSR), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Nam Kim Group (NKG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG).
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.91 per cent to end Tuesday at 331.79 points.
The index had lost 0.95 per cent to close Monday at 334.84 points.
More than 161 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND4 trillion. — VNS