Markets were on the defensive on Wednesday morning and trading volume decreased on fears of a further decline.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose briefly early morning, but gradually inched down towards the end of the morning trade and closed at 655.5 points, down 0.4 per cent, extending the losing streak to five consecutive sessions.

In contrast, the HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange inched up 0.2 per cent to 80.2 points after four-day fall.

Market breadth, however, remained negative with 219 of the total 691 stocks tumbling and only 147 advancing.

Financial and bank shares were the biggest gainers on Wednesday morning and shares of Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB), Masan Group (MSN), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM City Securities Corp (HCM) rising in value.

Majority of the heavily traded shares in the two markets were low-priced shares, those below VND10,000 a share, such as financial company FIT (FIT), real estate developer FLC Group (FLC), Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA), Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG), KLF Joint Venture Investment International (KLF) and Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB). However, most of these shares lost value.

Around 88 million shares worth nearly VND1.2 trillion ($53 million) were traded in the two markets.The afternoon trade starts at 1pm. — VNS