Shares extended losses on Wednesday morning on extremely low liquidity due to weak purchasing demand as investors were not ready to return to the market.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.45 per cent to close at 957.73 points.

On the southern exchange, 106 stocks advanced while 155 declined.

More than 61.9 million shares were traded on the bourse, worth VND1.6 trillion (US$68.4 million).

The benchmark index dropped 0.09 per cent to close Tuesday at 962.07 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased by 0.10 per cent to end at 103.85 points.

Nearly 18 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND175.6 billion.

The northern market index decreased by 0.04 per cent to end Tuesday at 103.95 points.

Large-caps stocks such as Vinhomes (VHM), Vietjet Air (VJC), Tien Phong Bank (TPB), Vietcombank (VCB) and The FLC Group Joint Stock Company (ROS) all fell. VHM dropped 1.2 per cent to VND80,900 per share. VCB decreased 0.4 per cent to VND67,100 per share. TPB adjusted down 2.4 per cent to VND24,900 per share.

Oil and gas stocks like PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) were under strong selling pressure. GAS dropped 1 per cent to VND103,000 per share. PVD decreased 1.3 per cent to VND18,500 per share. PVS fell 0.9 per cent to VND22,500 per share.

On the other side, blue-chips such as Vingroup (VIC), Masan Group (MSN) and Kido Group (KDC) maintained their rally and helped narrow the decline of the general market.

The large-cap VN30-Index was down 0.02 per cent to end at 868.99 points with eight of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity progressing and 14 stocks declining.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1 pm. — VNS