Vietnamese shares declined on Tuesday, dragged by market heavyweights as selling pressure increased significantly towards the closing minutes of trading.
The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) declined 0.33 per cent to finish the trading day at 1,341.90 points.
It had jumped 0.88 per cent to close Monday at 1,346.39 points.
The market breadth was negative as 294 stocks declined, while 125 rose and 28 ended flat.
Nearly 869.4 million shares were traded on the southern market, worth VND26.6 trillion (US$1.2 billion).
The selling pressure suddenly increased strongly in the afternoon causing the market to turn down.
"The market struggled for most of the day and finally corrected slightly at the end of the session," said BIDV Securities Co.
"Market breadth turned negative with a slight decrease in liquidity compared to the previous session, showing a cautious sentiment towards the resistance level of 1,350 points.
"Meanwhile, foreign investors were net sellers on HoSE while they were net buyers on HNX.
"A slight correction today might make the market maintain its accumulation around 1,350 points in the short term," the company said.
Many large stocks such as insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), FPT Corporation (FPT), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Masan Group (MSN), Sabeco (SAB), Vingroup (VIC), Mobile World Group (MWG), Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), PV Power (POW), Vincom Retail (VRE) all dropped, negatively impacting the market.
Bank stocks still gained ground and helped narrow the market’s decline, with gainers included Sacombank (STB), Vietinbank (CTG), Tien Phong Bank (TPB), Bank for Investment and Development (BID), VPBank (VPB), MBBank (MBB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB).
The 30 biggest stocks tracker, VN30-Index, rose 0.18 per cent to finish at 1,444.10 points.
Of the VN30 basket, 11 stocks increased while 17 decreased.
On a sector basis, 22 out of 25 sectors decreased, such as insurance, food and beverage, seafood processing, real estate, agriculture, home appliance production, logistics, construction and construction materials.
Meanwhile, on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 0.25 per cent to close Tuesday at 346.48 points.
The northern market index had increased 2.21 points to close Monday at 345.63 points.
During the session, over 169 million shares were traded on HNX, worth VND3.6 trillion. — VNS