Shares fell again on the two local exchanges on Tuesday morning as investors remained cautious ahead of the US central bank’s meeting this week.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange was down 0.2 per cent to close at 658.25 points and the HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange dropped 0.5 per cent to end at 78.4 points.

Investor confidence remained low as investors awaited the US central bank’s decision on expectations that US lending rates will be raised for the first time since December 2015.

Large-cap stocks continued to underperform. Among the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation, 22 declined.

These decliners included dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN) and property developer Vingroup JSC (VIC).

The banking sector remained among the worst-hit businesses, with only Sacombank (STB) making gains, while eight other listed banks were down.

Despite the positive trend in global crude trading, the energy sector fell further from Monday's session. PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) both saw losses.

On the positive side, securities companies’ stocks advanced to lift the market. The gainers included Bao Viet Securities Corp (BVS), Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI) and VNDirect Securities Corp (VND).

More than 79.6 million shares were exchanged this morning, worth VND1.3 trillion (US$58.28 million). – VNS