At a Vietcombank transaction room. Shares of the bank tumbled 0.87 per cent on Tuesday, leading the market's downtrend. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Shares were mixed on Tuesday as investors took profits after recent price rises weighed in on the market, while foreign capital saw a third straight day of withdrawals.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) finished the day at 1,277.14 points, down 0.44 point, or 0.33 per cent. The drop ended a five-day rising streak.

On the southern bourse, although VN-Index declined, the breadth was positive as 170 stocks increased while 159 ticked down. Liquidity on the HoSE remained high with nearly VNĐ24 trillion (US$942 million) in transaction value, but decreased by 13 per cent from the previous session. Trading volume on Tuesday's southern exchange was more than 972 million shares.

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE by market capitalisation, also dropped 3.93 points, or 0.3 per cent, down to 1,308.62 points. The number of decliners surpassed gainers in the VN30 basket by 16 to 11, while three stocks ended flat.

Large-cap stocks in banking and manufacturing sectors led the market decline with Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB) posting the biggest fall, down 0.87 per cent, contributing to the loss of 1.5 points of the VN-Index.

It was followed by the Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VCB), Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR), BIDV (BID), Masan Group Corporation (MSN), and Hòa Phát Group (HPG). Stocks dipped in a range of 0.47-2.07 per cent.

However, losses were capped by gains in some pillar stocks, led by PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS), which was up 0.92 per cent, contributing nearly 0.3 point to VN-Index score. It was followed by FPT Corporation (FPT) posting an increase of 2.26 per cent, and Petro Việt Nam Cà Mau Fertilizer JSC (CTG) which rose 5.29 per cent.

The small-cap stocks basket benefited the most from the strong fluctuations. Of these, 11 stocks hit the ceiling out of a total of 15 stocks on the HoSE. Small-cap stocks were also the only basket of stocks to gain liquidity on Tuesday, rising 5.6 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index finished higher on Tuesday. It rose 0.3 per cent, to 243.29 points, the fourteenth consecutive positive trading session.

During the day more than VNĐ2.3 trillion worth of shares, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 114 million shares, moved on the northern market.

Foreign investors net sold on HoSE on Tuesday more than VNĐ715 billion, which was the third consecutive net selling session and on a remarkable large scale. After the previous two sessions, they all withdrew over VNĐ800 billion each. — VNS