A LNG vessel at a terminal of the Thi Vai liquefied natural gas (LNG) warehouse and terminal complex, a project of PV Gas. GAS shares fell 0.53 per cent on Wednesday. — Photo pvgas.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnamese stock market was steady on Wednesday, as many large-cap stocks reversed course during the afternoon session.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index was mostly unchanged after recouping nine points in the previous trade. The index fell 0.59 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 1,162.53 points.

The breadth of the market was positive with more stocks gaining points, while liquidity also improved from Tuesday's session. Particularly, the trading value on the southern bourse increased 27.6 per cent to VNĐ16.72 trillion (US$682 million).

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, also finished lower at 1,166.61 points, down 3.58 points, or 0.31 per cent. Seventeen stocks in the VN30 basket declined while nine advanced and four ended flat.

The market opened positively in the morning trade with appealing groups, including securities and real estate sectors, attracting cash flows. However, the liquidity dropped sharply in the afternoon session, especially in pillar stocks.

Data compiled by a financial website vietstock.vn showed that Vinhomes (VHM) posted the biggest loss in market capitalisation today, leading the downtrend. Shares of the property developer plummeted 1.76 per cent.

It was followed by Vietinbank (CTG), VPBank (VPB), Masan Group (MSN) and PV Gas (GAS), down in a range of 0.53-1.19 per cent.

The market pared losses as gains were seen in some pillars led by Vietcombank (VCB). The lender's shares soared 1 per cent today.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index ended flat with the northern market's benchmark trading at 229.5 points. Over 77.9 million shares were traded on HNX, worth more than VNĐ1.4 trillion.

Foreign investors continued to pour capital into the market as they net bought more than VNĐ158 billion on the two main exchanges. Of which, they net bought VNĐ141.8 billion on HoSE and VNĐ16.33 billion on HNX. — VNS