Vietnamese shares fell for a second day on cautious sentiment but some news from brewer Sabeco and retail giant Vincom Retail helped offset losses.

The benchmark VN Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched down 0.14 per cent to close Tuesday at 954.58 points.

The southern market has dropped a total 0.42 per cent in the last two sessions.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange lost 0.21 per cent to end at 106.59 points, a two-day decline of 0.51 per cent.

Trading liquidity reached 224.4 million shares in volume and VND4.54 trillion (US$199.5 million), down 8.7 per cent and 16.3 per cent from the previous day.

Decliners outnumbered gainers by 258 to 172 while 111 other stocks ended flat.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Lan, a senior manager at Agribank Securities Co, worries about international risks regarding trade tensions and political changes mean a consistent uptrend for the local market isn’t a certainty.

Those tensions and changes on a global scale have forced foreign investors to switch from emerging markets like Viet Nam to safer assets, triggering net foreign selling.

Net foreign selling remained a pressure for the stock market. Foreign investors on Tuesday net-sold VND81.55 billion worth of stocks, a day increase of 7.4 per cent.

In addition, Viet Nam’s economic prospects in 2019 have some challenges that hurt investors’ confidence, she said, adding that the market may correct in a few sessions.

Large-cap stocks weighed on the market as the blue-chip VN30 Index fell 0.05 per cent to 922.34 points at the end of the day, with 18 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 basket going down.

“Making investment in blue chips at this time isn’t a good choice,” Lan said, adding that shares of mid-cap firms, which have their own supportive news and have been oversold lately, would be better options.

But among large-cap stocks, there were still individual performances that offset poor market sentiment.

Brewer Sabeco (SAB) gained 2 per cent after the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD) on Tuesday adjusted the foreign ownership cap at Sabeco from 49 per cent to 100 per cent.

The company on December 3 gained approval from the State Securities Commission on the new foreign capital limit.

Sabeco shares have gained more than 3 per cent since December 5.

Vincom Retail (VRE) on Monday raised the number of listed shares by more than 427.7 million shares to nearly 2.33 billion shares.

Vincom Retail shares on Tuesday were up 1.4 per cent, recovering from a 3 per cent drop on Monday. — VNS