Shares inched down on Wednesday morning, reversing yesterday's course as bank stocks fell deeply.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 4.26 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 1,335.05 points after jumping more than 1 per cent in the last session.

The market's breadth was negative, while liquidity was also lower than yesterday morning. Accordingly, more than 321.3 million stocks were traded on HoSE, worth over VND9.3 trillion (US$409.2 million).

The index was weighed by rising selling pressure, mainly on bank stocks. The VN30-Index, which tracks 30 biggest stocks on the southern bourse, inched 3.59 points, or 0.25 per cent, lower to 1,447.53 points.

Of the VN30 basket, 19 stocks declined while only nine rose and two stayed flat.

Many big banks dropped more than 1 per cent this morning, with Vietcombank (VCB) leading the downtrend, down 1.61 per cent.

BIDV (BID), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB), Sacombank (STB) and Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) also witnessed poor performance, down in a range of 1.1 - 2.19 per cent.

However, the index pared some losses on gains in some large-cap stocks, especially energy stocks.

PetroVietnam Gas (PVGas, GAS) was still the biggest gainer this morning, up 2.31 per cent. It was followed by Masan Group (MSN) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG), up 1.84 per cent and 1.14 per cent, respectively.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index slid by 1.03 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 355 points. VNS