Shares cut early gains to end Tuesday on a negative note as strong selling force pushed down a handful of large-cap stocks, pressuring indices.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell 0.01 points to 1,395.33 points.

The index had gained 0.20 per cent on Monday to close at 1,395.53 points.

Market breadth became negative with 245 losers and 188 gainers.

More than 639.4 million shares were traded on the southern market, worth over VND20.3 trillion (US$897.34 million).

The index was weighed by losses in some large-cap stocks, with the VN30-Index posting a decrease of 0.22 per cent, to 1,507.19 points. Thirteen of the 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket rose, while 17 stocks declined.

Losers in the VN-30 group included Sacombank (STB), losing 2.6 per cent, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), going down 1.7 per cent, Vincom Retail (VRE), falling 1.6 per cent, Masan Group (MSN) losing 1.4 per cent and Phu Nhuan Jewellery (PNJ) dropping 1 per cent.

The banking group differentiated notably in Tuesday's session. Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) gained strongly. Meanwhile, Techcombank (TCB), Military Bank (MBB), HDBank (HDB) and Vibank (VIB) decreased slightly. Vietcombank (VCB) and VPB struggled around the reference.

On a sector basis, 13 out of 25 sector indices on the market posted losses, including IT, agriculture, oil and gas, retail, rubber production, food and beverage and construction materials.

On the other side, gainers were seafood production, logistics, banking, securities, insurance, wholesale and healthcare.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index climbed 0.55 per cent, to 387.00 points.

The index had gained 0.01 per cent on Monday to close at 384.88 points.

During the session, 107 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth over VND2.2 trillion. VNS