At a Vietcombank transaction room. The lender's shares tumbled nearly one per cent on Wednesday, leading the market's downtrend. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares hit reverse to end lower on Wednesday as large-cap stocks in a series of industries suffered selling pressure, especially banking, real estate and manufacturing.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index lost 9.09 points, or 0.71 per cent to close at 1,272.64 points. It had gained 1.11 per cent in the last session.

More than one billion shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ25.4 trillion (US$995 million).

The market's breadth was positive with more stocks gaining points. There were 168 gainers and 162 losers, while 48 ticker symbols ended flat.

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, also ticked down to 1,284.02 points, down 15.73 points or 1.21 per cent. In the VN30 basket, 27 ticker symbols fell, two increased and one ended flat.

 Vietcombank (VCB) posted the biggest loss and led the market’s downtrend. Shares of the lender dropped 0.99 per cent, erasing more than one point from the VN-Index.

Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), two of the big four banks also tumbled today, down 1.71 per cent and 1.02 per cent, respectively.

Other stocks influencing the downturn were Vingroup Joint Stock Company (VIC), down 1.44 per cent, Hòa Phát Group JSC (HPG) which dipped 1.89 per cent and FPT Corporation (FPT) decreased 0.95 per cent.

The index pared losses thanks to weak bottom-fishing demand. Vietnam Airlines JSC (HVN) was the biggest gainer with an increase of 5.2 per cent. Notably, shares of the national airline had risen for six consecutive sessions.

It was followed by Liên Việt Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (LPB), up 3.79 per cent; PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS), up 0.37 per cent; and Vietnam Commercial Joint Stock Export Import Bank (EIB), up 4.8 per cent.

The Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) index also finished lower yesterday afternoon, declining 0.58 per cent to 244.15 points.

During Wednesday's session, more than VNĐ1.8 trillion worth of shares were traded, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 100 million shares on the northern bourse.

Meanwhile, foreign investors continued to be net sellers, the equivalent of VNĐ1.6 trillion on both exchanges. — VNS