At a Vietcombank branch in Hà Nội City. The bank's shares were a bright spot in the market on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

Shares were mixed on Wednesday as a profit-taking after recent rallies weighed on the market, while the foreign bloc continued strong net selling.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) finished the day at 1,285.94 points, down 7.77 points, or 0.6 per cent. The reversal ended a nine-day rising streak.

On the southern bourse, the breadth was negative as 201 stocks ticked down while 125 increased. Liquidity remained nearly unchanged from the previous trading session, at VNĐ21.8 trillion (US$850.2 million).

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE by market capitalisation, also dropped 10.87 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 1,310.91 points. The number of decliners surpassed gainers in the VN30 basket by 23 to 6. One stock ended flat.

According to the Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS), the market is experiencing rising selling pressure as the VN-Index approaches a significant resistance level, leading to continued fluctuations and uncertainty.

Large-cap stocks in the manufacturing sectors led the market's downturn with FPT Corporation (FPT) posting the biggest fall in the market capitalisation, shares of the software manufacturer down 2.55 per cent, contributing to a decline of over 1.2 points in the VN-Index.

It was followed by the Vietnam Rubber Group - Joint Stock Company (GVR), which fell 2.63 per cent, Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG), down 2.4 per cent and Vinhomes JSC (VHM), which dipped 0.13 per cent.

Banking stocks also saw poor performance on Wednesday, such as Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) down 1.26 per cent, Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) falling 1.03 per cent, Liên Việt Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (LPB) tumbling 2.35 per cent and HCM City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDB) dipping 1.19 per cent.

However, losses were capped by gains in some pillar stocks, led by the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB), which was up nearly 0.6 per cent, Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) up by 2.45 per cent and Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) rising 1.2 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also finished lower at 244.54 points. More than 64 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth more than VNĐ1.5 trillion.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers on the market, particularly on the southern exchange. They sold over VNĐ1 trillion on the HoSE. — VNS