Vietnamese shares dropped on Wednesday morning as investors began taking profits from the market’s previous rally. — Photo cafef.vn

Vietnamese shares dropped on Wednesday morning as investors began taking profits from the market’s previous rally.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange fell 0.60 per cent to end at 885.23 points.

The VN-Index had gained a total of 0.95 per cent in the previous two days.

More than 117.8 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.8 trillion (US$77.8 million).

Investors started locking in profits that stocks had made in the previous days.

Dragging on the market were technology, retail, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, banking and finance, seafood processing, and food and beverage stocks.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index – the main driving factor of the stock market – dropped 0.58 per cent.

In the VN30 basket, 21 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity declined while eight increased.

Among the worst-performing large-caps were sugar firm Thanh Thanh Cong-Bien Hoa (SBT), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), digital retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG) and tech group FPT (FPT).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.28 per cent to close at 112.26 points.

The northern market index had increased by total 5.60 per cent in four days since last Thursday.

More than 42 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND457.7 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS