Investors at VNDirect Securities Company’s trading room. — VNA/VNS Photo Pham Hau

Viet Nam’s benchmark VN-Index was dragged down on Tuesday by large-cap stocks and net foreign selling after having rallied for three consecutive sessions.

The HCM Stock Exchange index was down 0.36 per cent to close at 956.79 points. It had gained total 0.78 per cent since last Thursday.

The benchmark stock index has gained 5.4 per cent since its nine-month low of 911.11 points made on July 16.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange inched up 0.11 per cent to end at 105.71 points, recovering from its Monday loss of 0.61 per cent.

The northern market index has earned nearly 7.3 per cent in the last four and a half weeks.

More than 198 million shares were traded on the two local bourses, worth VND5.34 trillion (US$237.5 million).

Tuesday trading figures were down a quarter in volume and 7.4 per cent in value compared to the first trading day of the week.

Large-cap firms in the industries of real estate, energy, agriculture, food and beverage, rubber, and seafood processing were the main cause of the market’s decline on Tuesday.

These sector indices dropped between 1.1 per cent and 2.9 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The four blue chips – dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), property developer Vingroup (VIC) and its sub-unit Vinhomes (VHM), and PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) – led those sectors down, losing between 1.1 per cent and 4.3 per cent.

VIC, VNM and VHM were also among the stocks that were net-sold by foreign investors. Net foreign selling on Tuesday was recorded at nearly VND71 billion – which was lower compared to the figure of VND340.7 billion made on Monday.

GAS and other energy stocks such as PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) declined despite rising oil prices on global markets.

On the positive side, banks and insurance firms were of the companies that supported the stock market.

The two sector indices gained 2.2 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.

They were driven by growth of Vietcombank (VCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID), HDBank (HDB) and insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH).

According to the Ha Noi-based brokerage firm Bao Viet Securities (BVSC), Tuesday’s decline was only a “technical correction in a strong resistance zone” and the market would continue its uptrend in following sessions.

The benchmark index would move between the upper boundary of 962-965 points and the lower one of 945-947 points on Wednesday, BVSC said in its daily report. — VNS