Viet Nam’s benchmark VN-Index fell after a four-day rally, dragged down by financial-banking, retail and agricultural stocks.

The VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 0.38 per cent to close at 952.77 points after gaining a total of 3.1 per cent in the previous four sessions.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange lost another 0.56 per cent to end at 105.56 points. The northern market also lost 0.56 per cent on Tuesday.

More than 249.3 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND5 trillion (US$225.5 million). The figures were down 11.7 per cent in volume and 1.1 per cent in value compared to Tuesday.

Large-cap stocks finished the day in negative territory with the blue chip VN30 Index down 0.54 per cent at 939.31 points and 17 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation declining.

The retail sector index fell 2.1 per cent, and the agricultural sector index dropped 2.6 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed. The figures for banking, insurance and brokerage industries were down between 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent.

Among the decliners were digital retailer Mobile World (MWG), Phu Nhuan Jewellery JSC (PNJ), Vietinbank (CTG), MBBank (MBB), Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) and its sub-unit HAGL Agrico (HNG).

Other stocks that performed poorly and had negative impacts on the stock market included logistics firm Gemadept (GMD), IT group FPT Corp (FPT), DHG Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG) and budget carrier Vietjet (VJC).

Net foreign selling was another element driving the market down on Wednesday. Foreign investors sold VND226.25 billion, about four times the figure from the previous two sessions.

According to Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities JSC (SHS), Wednesday’s decline was expected after the previous four sessions.

It was a “technical slide” because the VN-Index posted a slight drop and trading liquidity remained above the average level of the last 20 sessions, SHS said in its daily report.

“Wednesday’s session was more like an opportunity for investors to exchange expectations rather than a signal that the market has lost momentum.”

Such fluctuation would stop soon and the VN-Index had a chance to rise further, SHS forecast, adding that the VN Index-would consolidate at 945-960 points on Thursday. — VNS