BIDV's employees talk to clients at a transaction office. The bank shares surged 2.68 per cent yesterday, cushioning the market's bearish sentiment. Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — Benchmark indices traded in opposite directions on Tuesday, as selling force continued to weigh on pillar stocks. 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) extended the downtrend, falling for the second day in a row. It declined by 8.53 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 952.12 points. 

The index pared some losses from the previous session in the morning trade, with a slight increase of 1.25 points to 961.9 points, but rising selling pressure dragged the index back to the bearish trend. 

On the southern bourse, however, the breadth was still positive as 200 stocks added points, while 129 stocks inched lower. Liquidity improved over the previous session, of which matching value on HoSE reached nearly VNĐ15.3 trillion (US$615.5 million), equal to a matching volume of 979 million shares. 

The benchmark's losses were mainly driven by large-cap stocks. Specifically, the VN30-Index posted a decrease of 11.35 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 945.54 points. Twenty-eight of the 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket subdued, with two registering the floor prices, while 11 stocks advanced. And one stock was unchanged. 

Real estate and bank stocks continued to lead the market's downtrend, of which Vingroup (VIC) witnessed a biggest fall of 4.69 per cent. It was followed by Vietcombank (VCB), down 2 per cent, Vinhomes (VHM) down 3.51 per cent, Masan Group (MSN) fell 3.47 per cent, and PV Gas (GAS) down 1.89 per cent. 

Other stocks weighing on the market's sentiment were Becamex (BCM), Novaland (NVL), Tecombank (TCB), Hòa Phát Group (HPG), with NVL shares hitting the maximum daily loss of 7 per cent. 

The index pared losses on gains in some other pillar stocks. BIDV (BID) was the biggest gainer, up 2.68 per cent. 

The market also received support from foreign investors as they net bought nearly VNĐ280 billion on both main exchanges. Of which, they net bought VNĐ261.5 billion on HoSE and VNĐ16.15 billion on HNX. VNS