Gemadept's cranes at Nam Dinh Vu Port in the northern city of Hai Phong. The company was among 13 blue-chips that declined on Wednesday. — Photo Gemadept

Vietnamese shares steadied on Wednesday as large-caps faced selling pressure while investors prepared for impacts from global markets.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained only 0.06 per cent to close at 1,024.91 points.

The VN-Index had rallied a total of 2.55 per cent in the previous three days.

Market breadth was positive with 174 gaining stocks and 156 losers.

More than 255 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND4.7 trillion (US$202 million).

The VN-Index lost momentum in the last hour of the trading day as selling pressure mounted on large-cap stocks.

The benchmark index rose as much as 0.45 per cent during the day.

The large-cap VN30-Index was unchanged and closed Wednesday at 942.38 points.

In the large-cap basket, 13 of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity declined while six ended flat.

Among decliners were aviation firm Vietjet (VJC), logistics company Gemadept (GMD), HDBank (HDB), real estate business Vincom Retail (VRE), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG).

Retail, mining and petroleum, finance and logistics were the worst-performing sectors as their indices dropped between 0.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The Vietnamese stock market rhymed with global markets as investors were cautious ahead of new developments in the US-China trade relationship.

Foreign investors on Wednesday net sold VND89.7 billion of local shares while they net bought VND29.6 billion in the previous session.

Market growth steam is running out as large-cap stocks weaken and cash begins seeking opportunities in mid-cap and small-cap stocks, MB Securities Co (MBS) said in its daily report.

Mid-cap and small-cap indices on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.20-0.21 per cent.

Blue-chip stocks will continue weakening and replace each other to keep the VN-Index at the current threshold of between 1,020-1,025 points, MBS said.

In the next trading days, the market will struggle at the current range. Mid-cap and small-cap stocks will make gains while large-cap stocks will move sideways, the company forecast.

Investors are betting the VN-Index will soon correct and what happened yesterday supports that idea, Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Co (SHS) noted.

The VN-Index may continue swinging to settle at the current range of 1,020-1,025 points before moving towards 1,040-1,045 points, the company said.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched up 0.04 per cent to end at 106.75 points, totalling a four-day increase of nearly 1.5 per cent.

More than 19 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND287 billion. — VNS