The stock market posted a loss on Tuesday, weighed down largely by the poor performance of the construction materials sector.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index started off the afternoon under the baseline. It then fell with a steep bearish trend and eventually hit 1,065.84 points, down 23.45 points (2.15 per cent) from the previous session.

The market's breadth was negatively skewed as decliners outnumbered advancers by 263 to 68. Among the stocks, six hit ceiling prices whereas 12 sat at the other end.

HoSE was not so busy yesterday since investors traded just 595 million shares on the exchange, equivalent to about VNĐ10 trillion (US$420 million).

The VN30-Index echoed the VN-Index pattern but with a larger loss. It lost 24.87 points (2.27 per cent) to reach 1069.5 points. In the basket, five stocks climbed, one stayed flat and 24 slid.

Vietcombank (VCB) was leading the slump with a loss of 4.17 per cent. Other major stocks behind the market torpor include Hoa Phat Group (HPG), BIDV (BID), Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC) and VPBank (VPB). 

A construction materials sector in decline was a drag on the market yesterday. In the sector, Hoa Phat Group (HPG) lost 6.62 per cent, followed by Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Vicostone (VCS). Heavy selling slashed the sector by 5.57 per cent.

Securities was the next sector dragging down indices as it was overrun by decliners including SSI Securities (SSI), VNDirect (VND) and Viet Capital (VCI). Overall, the sector lost 2.85 (3.35 per cent) yesterday.

Plastics was another sector contributing to the market downturn yesterday. One of the largest decliners in the sector was the Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), which dropped by 5.13 per cent. Duc Giang Chemicals (DGC) came next with 4.14 per cent. 

In the realty sector, the trio stocks of the Vin family - Vingroup (VIC), Vinhomes (VHM) and Vincom (VRE) - saw red on the screen. The first lost 1.79 per cent, the second 2.4 per cent, and the last 3.22 per cent.

"The stock market is being exposed to various types of risks, including the liquidity risk posed by a huge volume of corporate bonds coming due and the risk carried by the realty sector facing high policy rates", said a securities expert.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) followed the bearish trend with a dip of 4.47 points (2.09 per cent), ending at 210 points.

Foreign investors poured money into the market by net buying a total of around VNĐ25.8 billion worth of shares on the two exchanges. Of which, they net bought VNĐ34.94 billion on HoSE and net sold VNĐ9.14 billion on HNX. — VNS