Vietnamese shares closed Tuesday morning on a negative note with low liquidity as investors remained cautious.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched down 0.07 per cent to close at 965.16 points.

The VN-Index decreased by 0.04 per cent on Monday.

Nearly 64 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.45 trillion (US$62.2 million).

Market breadth was balanced with 134 gaining stocks and 134 declining.

Large-cap stocks continued weighing on market sentiment.

The large-cap VN30-Index shed 0.15 per cent to close at 876.93 points.

Fourteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 basket declined while 13 advanced.

Banks, retailers and consumer staple firms extended losses while other sectors such as seafood processing and technology bounced back strongly from Monday declines.

Insurance and brokerage stocks made slight increases to support the market.

Petroleum stocks gained further on rising oil prices.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was down 0.02 per cent to end at 105.61 points.

The northern market index slid 0.23 per cent on Monday.

More than 14.5 million shares were exchanged on the northern bourse, worth VND192.6 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS