A trader at VNDirect Securities Corporation. Vietnamese shares declined slightly on Wednesday morning as local stocks were weighed down by heavier profit taking. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Vietnamese shares ended almost flat on Wednesday morning as selling pressure increased and hit the market on a wide range.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched down 0.01 per cent to end at 896.14 points.

The VN-Index had gained total 0.82 per cent in the first two trading days of the week.

Profit taking increased and brought down stocks in both large-cap and small-cap sectors while the mid-cap group hobbled up.

The blue-chip tracker VN30-Index slid 0.01 per cent to 833.24 points and the small-cap tracker VNSML-Index fell 0.18 per cent to 826.40 points.

Among the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the large-cap basket, 16 stocks declined while 10 increased.

Among falling large-cap stocks were Eximbank (EIB), carrier Vietjet (VJC), consumer firm Masan (MSN), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), and Vietinbank (CTG).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slipped 0.08 per cent to 127.83 points.

The northern market index rose total 1.36 per cent in the previous two days.

Nearly 193 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND3.03 trillion (US$130.7 million).

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS