A worker in a plant of Hòa Phát Group (HPG). HPG lost 1.5 per cent yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI Wednesday witnessed a struggle for shares as most industry sectors were under pressure from selling forces.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index lost 1.21 per cent, to close at 1,271.47 points.

The breadth of the market was negative with 130 gainers and 368 losers. Matching value on the southern bourse reached VNĐ27.4 trillion (US$1.1 billion), equal to a trading volume of more than 1.07 billion shares.

The VN30-Index posted a fall of 1.4 per cent, to 1,274.27 points. Of the VN30 basket, all 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on HoSE inched down.

Wednesday proved to be a challenging day for shares as a pervasive selling force exerted significant pressure on various industry sectors. The market experienced a notable struggle as investors exhibited a cautious approach, leading to widespread declines across multiple sectors. The prevailing sentiment among traders was marked by a bearish trend, resulting in a downturn in overall market performance, according to vietstock.vn.

Most industry sectors experienced a decline in the morning session, including construction and securities, despite a promising start. Even large-cap sectors like retail, wholesale and construction materials saw further decreases.

Recently, the HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) announced the compulsory delisting of Pomina Steel Corporation (POM) shares after issuing a warning due to the company's delayed submission of the 2023 audit report on Tuesday. HOSE stated that this was the third time Pomina has been late in submitting the report, resulting in compulsory delisting under Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree 155/2020/NĐ-CP dated December 31, 2020.

As a result, during the morning trading session, POM stocks experienced a significant downward trend, ending the morning session with a decrease of over 3 per cent. It closed the trading day down 7 per cent. Additionally, stocks in the steel sector, such as Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Nam Kim Group (NKG) also showed negative performance.

The retail sector continued to perform poorly, with significant declines in stocks like Mobile World Group (MWG) and Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ), which decreased by 2.5 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.

On a positive note, the seafood processing industry showed the most favourable performance. Stocks in this sector, including Vĩnh Hoàn Corporation (VHC), Nam Việt Corporation (ANV), Sao Ta Foods Joint Stock Company (FMC), I.D.I International Development & Investment Corporation (IDI) and Camimex Group JSC (CMX) all displayed gains.

It is expected that profit-taking supply will increase again. Therefore, investors can expect the possibility of expanding the market's uptrend, but need to observe supply and demand developments at the resistance zone to evaluate the market state. Currently, priority should be given to stocks that are showing good signals from the support zone to hold, but investors should still consider taking profits or reducing the proportion of stocks that are having difficulty in the resistance zone, said Việt Dragon Securities Co.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) ended the trading day at 243.96 points, a fall of 0.79 per cent.

During the session, more than 119 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ2.8 trillion. VNS