Shares ended Wednesday morning on a negative note as cautious market sentiment continued to trigger sell-offs after the indices had made early gains during the session.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell by 0.16 per cent to close at 1,019.13 points. It had fallen by 1.76 per cent on Tuesday.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange slid by 0.33 per cent to end at 116.10 points, extending its decline from a two-day fall of 2.8 per cent.

Both the indices were hit by profit-taking pressure after they had made early gains in the session. The VN Index rose by as much as 0.65 per cent, while the HNX Index was up by as much as 0.79 per cent.

Liquidity remained modest with VND2.3 trillion (US$102 million) worth of more than 80 million shares being traded on the two local exchanges.

The large-cap VN30 Index was down by 0.09 per cent to 1,007.82 points, with 18 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the basket falling.

Half of the 20 sectors saw share prices go down, including banking-finance, food and beverages and information technology.

Among decliners were FLC Faros Construction (ROS), property developer Novaland (NVL), brewer Sabeco (SAB), MBBank (MBB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID).

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS