A view of Mỹ Phước Industrial Park, an IP of Becamex. Becamex (BCM) gained 3.1 per cent yesterday. — Photo becamex.com.vn

HÀ NỘI The market closed largely unchanged on Wednesday as bullish and bearish sentiments entered a tug-of-war.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) stayed flat at 1,230.04 points.

On Wednesday, the market exhibited a relatively stable performance, closing with little change. However, behind the scenes, there was a pronounced battle between bullish and bearish sentiments, creating a tug-of-war situation, said vietstock.vn.

Investors were divided, with some expressing optimism and confidence in the market's upward potential, while others remained cautious and sceptical, anticipating a potential downturn. This clash of sentiments resulted in a stalemate, leading to a market close that was largely unchanged.

The breadth of the market on the southern exchange remained in negative territory, with 262 decliners and 239 gainers.

Nearly 990 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VNĐ22.5 trillion (US$917 million).

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, increased by 0.03 per cent, to 1,242.08 points. In the VN30 basket, 17 ticker symbols finished lower, while 13 inched up.

The real estate sector was hit the most as numerous stocks from penny to large-caps reported great losses. Of which, Vinhomes (VHM) led the bearish trend, down 2.5 per cent.

It was followed by Kinh Bắc City Development Holding Corporation (KBC) down 0.63 per cent, Novaland (NVL) losing 1.1 per cent, Đất Xanh Group (DXG) dropping 1.6 per cent and Saigon Real Estate Group JSC (SGR) losing 0.5 per cent.

Some banking and securities stocks couldn't escape the downtrend with many pillars down, such as Vietcombank (VCB) down 2.5 per cent, HDBank (HDB) dipped 0.4 per cent, SSI Securities Inc (SSI) dropped 1 per cent, and BIDV Securities Joint Stock Company (BSI) lost 0.7 per cent.

On the other hand, many large-caps gained ground and pushed up indices, such as Becamex (BCM), gaining 3.1 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) up 1 per cent, FPT Corporation (FPT) rising 1.5 per cent, Sacombank (STB) climbing 2.6 per cent and Tiên Phong Bank (TPB) soaring 4 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 0.15 per cent, to 233.84 points.

During the session, investors poured over VNĐ1.2 trillion into the northern bourse, equal to a trading volume of 63.4 million shares. VNS