Vietnamese markets extended losses on Wednesday on increased selling pressure and decreased liquidity.
On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index edged down 0.04 per cent to end at 1,475.50 points.
It had edged down 0.01 per cent to end Tuesday at 1,476.02 points.
The market's breadth was negative with 197 gainers and 264 losers.
Liquidity declined compared to the previous session with 906 million shares traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VND26 trillion (US$1.12 billion).
The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, gained 0.20 per cent, to end at 1,519.42 points. Sixteen out of 30 stocks in the VN30 basket posted gains, while 12 decreased.
In the VN-30 basket, Tien Phong Bank (TPB) rose by 3 per cent and was the largest gainer, reaching VND52,000 per share. Masan Group (MSN) also gained nearly 3 per cent. Novaland (NVL) also rose nearly 2 per cent at the end of the session.
On the downside, PVPower (POW) dropped 3 per cent, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) also dropped 0.5 per cent. Vingroup (VIC), SSI Securities Inc (SSI), VPBank (VPB) and The Viet Nam Rubber Group (GVR) fell more than 1 per cent.
Steel stocks suffered strong selling pressure with Nam Kim Group (NKG) ended the session at the lowest price of the day, up slightly by 0.4 per cent compared to the reference. In the morning session, Hoa Sen Group (HSG) still gained but in the afternoon session, it closed down 0.3 per cent compared to the previous session. Hoa Phat Group (HPG) significantly cooled down compared to the morning session. Other steel stocks like Thai Nguyen Iron And Steel JSC (TIS), SMC Trading Investment Joint Stock Company (SMC), Tien Len Steel Group Joint Stock Company (TLH), Viet Nam Steel Corporation (TVN) and Pomina Steel Corporation (POM) all declined.
Seventeen out of 25 sector indices on the stock market posted losses, including securities, oil and gas, construction, retail, seafood production, insurance, wholesale and agriculture.
On the other side, gainers were IT, real estate, banking, healthcare, food and beverage, rubber production, construction materials and logistics.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index lost 0.22 per cent, to end Wednesday 453.70 points.
On Tuesday, it had lost 0.63 per cent to end at 454.68 points.
During the session, investors poured over VND3 trillion into the market, equivalent to a trading volume of 112.8 million shares. — VNS