Shares extended losses during Wednesday morning trading, with blue-chips hit hard during the session.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 1.22 per cent to close at 994.28 points, finally falling below the 1,000-point level maintained during the last six sessions.

The southern market index lost 0.52 per cent to close Tuesday at 1,006.59 points.

More than 127.8 million shares were exchanged on the southern bourse, worth VND3.1 trillion (US$132.5 million).

The blue-chip VN30 Index was down 1.17 per cent to 916.75 points.

Twenty-four of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation ended in negative territory while only three increased. The other three were flat.

Three pillar stocks – Vinhomes (VHM), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Vingroup (VIC) – fell sharply and put pressure on the market as a whole.

VHM fell 1.7 per cent to VND92,400 per share. VRE fell 3.1 per cent to VND36,550 per share. VIC declined 0.91 per cent to VND119,900 per share.

According to Bloomberg, American private equity firm Warburg Pincus, a share holder of the mall operator VRE, registered to sell nearly 50 million VRE shares for between VND35,100 and VND36,550 per share.

If successful, Bloomberg estimated Warburg Pincus would earn $78 million from the sale.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 1.07 per cent to end at 108.88 points.

The northern market index lost 0.74 per cent to end Tuesday at 110.06 points.

More than 29.5 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND462 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. – VNS