Hoà Phát's products uploaded on a boat for export. The steel producer's shares performed well on Wednesday, up 2.21 per cent and cushioning the market's losses. — Photo courtersy of hoaphat.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The market corrected and finished lower on Wednesday after recent strong gains, while foreign capital flew into the southern bourse.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) decreased by 8.24 points, or 0.66 per cent, to end the day at 1,233.99 points. The market benchmark had risen more than 31 points in the last three sessions.

Over 180 stocks traded higher on the southern bourse, while 165 increased. Liquidity also continued to decline in both trading value and volume compared to the previous session. Of which, the former was down 6.5 per cent to VNĐ21.7 trillion (US$914 million), while the latter dipped by 8.4 per cent to over 1.09 million shares.

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 stocks with the biggest market capitalisation and highest liquidity on HoSE, also reduced nearly 8 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 1,239.84 points. Up to 27 stocks posted poor performance, while only two ticked up and one stock ended flat.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also ended the three-day winning streak, down slightly 0.19 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 245.88 points.

During the trading day, investors poured more than VNĐ1.8 trillion into the northern market, equivalent to a trading volume of 128.2 million shares.

The market was weighed by strong sell-off pressure today, with many large-cap and pillar stocks, especially in the real estate, banking and manufacturing industries, posting big losses.

Data compiled by the financial website vietstock.vn showed that Vinhomes (VHM) was the biggest loser, leading the downtrend on Wednesday. The property developer's shares tumbled by 3.5 per cent.

Shares of Vingroup (VIC) also traded lower, down 1.79 per cent after gaining 4.85 per cent on Tuesday.

Vinamilk (VNM), Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID), and Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) were also among the top stocks influencing the bearish sentiment. The stocks decreased between 0.82-1.99 per cent.

It pared losses thanks to gains of some stocks led by Hoà Phát Group (HPG) and Sacombank (STB), up 2.21 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively.

In a recent report, Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC) said that the State Bank's efforts to reduce interest rates and the Government's recent support policies are considered factors to help improve cash flow into the market and support the upward momentum of the VN-Index in July.

Although the VN-Index is facing the possibility of a correction in the short term, BVSC believes that improved business results in the second half of 2023 and in 2024 will push valuations back to a more attractive level. In the medium term, BVSC expects the VN-Index to move towards the target of 1,300-1,350 points.

Foreign investors were net buyers on HoSE today as they net bought VNĐ328.56 billion, while they net sold VNĐ7.4 billion on HNX. — VNS