A trader looks at the market's movements at an exchange. Shares plummeted on Wednesday due to stronger selling pressure. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The market reversed and fell sharply in Wednesday's trade, with many stocks hitting the floor prices.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index lost 35.21 points, or 3.17 per cent, to 1,075.97 points. 

After recovering in the previous session, the index couldn't keep the momentum to end the morning trade with a decline of 4.75 points. 

The market's breadth inclined to a negative zone with 271 stocks on the southern market going down, of which 45 registered the biggest intra-day loss of 7 per cent, while 79 stocks advanced. 

Liquidity increased strongly over the previous session. Accordingly, the trading value on HoSE jumped to nearly VNĐ35.4 trillion (US$751.5 million), equivalent to a trading volume of over one billion shares. 

The index was weighed by rising selling force, with many large-cap stocks locked in the bearish trend. The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index plunged nearly 37 points, or 3.29 per cent, to finish Wednesday at 1,088.09 points.

In the VN30 basket, 23 stocks declined with one stock hitting the floor price, while seven stocks inched higher. 

Data compiled by a finance website vietstock.vn showed that real estate, banking and manufacturing industries continued to influence the general trend. Specifically, Vinhomes led the market's downtrend with a fall of 5.7 per cent. 

It was followed by Vietcombank (VCB), Vingroup (VIC), Masan Group (MSN), BIDV (BID) and VPBank (VPB), down in a range of 3-5.91 per cent in market capitalisation. 

Other stocks dominating the downtrend were Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Sabeco (SAB), Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Techcombank (TCB), with GVR shares hitting the maximum daily loss of 7 per cent. 

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) also settled lower on Wednesday, ending the six-day gaining streak. The northern market's benchmark closed the day at 216.01 points, a reduction of 6.42 points, or 2.89 per cent. 

During the session, more than 131.8 million shares were traded on HNX, worth nearly VNĐ2 trillion. 

However, the market was cushioned by the return of foreign investors as they net bought on both main exchanges. Of which, they net bought VNĐ93.35 billion on HoSE and VNĐ39.46 billion on HNX. — VNS