Vietnam's stock market dropped on Wednesday morning on profit-taking activities, but gains in bank stocks limited some losses.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index declined by 0.39 per cent, reversing yesterday course. The market breadth was negative as 304 stocks slid while 79 stocks increased.

The market liquidity was higher than yesterday with more than 445.6 million stocks traded on the southern bourse, worth over VND13.5 trillion (US$588.6 million).

Selling pressure resurged across most sectors including real estate, material, utilities, retail and information technology (IT). The VN30-Index fell by 0.1 per cent to 1,487.8 points.

Of the VN30 basket, nineteen stocks inched lower, while nine stocks climbed and two stocks stayed unchanged.

Vinhomes JSC (VHM) was leading the market's losses, down 2.06 per cent in the morning session. Other stocks posting big losses were Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), Vingroup JSC (VIC) and Masan Group (MSN), with GVR and MSN losing more than 1 per cent.

However, the market pared some losses on the back of big bank stocks like VPBank (VPB), Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and JSC Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV, BID). These stocks all posted gains of more than 1 per cent.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also fell 0.45 per cent to 315.66 points, weighed by selling pressure on large-cap stocks.

The HNX30-Index, tracking 30 biggest stocks on HNX, dropped 0.75 per cent in the morning trade to 498.32 points. VNS