Investors make orders at Bảo Việt Securities's trading floor in Hà Nội. The VN-Index lost 2.68 per cent to close at 1,149.61 points. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Shares declined for a third day this week with the VN-Index piercing the May-bottom, risking a further slump due to negative investor sentiment.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost nearly 32 points, or 2.68 per cent, to close Wednesday at 1,149.61 points, lower than the bottom of 1,156 points on May 17 this year.

The market breadth was negative with 406 shares losing value, only 79 gaining and 83 closing flat.

Heavyweight shares had a free fall in the afternoon and pressured the market.

Vingroup’s trio of shares – Vingroup (VIC), Vinhomes (VHM) and Vincom Retail (VRE) – slumped and took away seven points. VRE hit the floor price of 7 per cent while VIC was kept near the floor and VHM lost 2.3 per cent.

PV Gas (GAS) and big banks such as Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), BIDV (BID) and VPBank (VPB) were also hit hard and were among the top 10 shares dragging the VN-Index most.

Liquidity dropped with more than 556 million shares worth VNĐ12.6 trillion (US$543 million) being traded, down around 10 per cent in both volume and value compared to Tuesday.

According to analysts, there was no negative information in the market. International markets across Asia and the EU even rallied and oil prices rebounded above $100 per barrel in the previous session.

“Despite the efforts of the banking group, cash flow continued to outflow from weak sectors in high price ranges such as fisheries, chemicals, transport and electricity,” said Phương Phạm, a stock analyst at Viet Dragon Securities Co.

Phương said the selling pressure is increasing, threatening the general market's chances of recovery. It’s expected that VN-Index will continue in the short-term, thus investors should limit buying on a large scale and need to act defensively against risks from the resistance zone.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased 2.17 per cent to end at 271.92 points. The northern bourse’s index was down 1.2 per cent on Tuesday.

Liquidity fell slightly to 65.4 million shares worth VNĐ1.2 trillion.

Foreign traders were also net sellers, being responsible for a net value of VNĐ759 billion on the two exchanges. Notably, foreigners increased selling in HCM City’s bourse, selling stocks worth VNĐ1.9 trillion, accounting for 15.3 per cent of total trading value in the southern bourse. — VNS