During working hours at a transaction office of Vietinbank. Shares of the lender led the market's downtrend on Tuesday, down 1.41 per cent. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HÀ NỘI — The domestic stock market finished mixed on Tuesday, weighed by soaring selling force, while foreign investors returned to their selling trend. 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) ticked down but still traded above the threshold of 1,330 points. The index closed the trading day at 1,330.97 points, down 5.29 points, or 0.4 per cent. 

The breadth of the market was negative as 140 stocks inched higher while 177 ticker symbols declined. The market's liquidity was also lower from the previous session, down 2.5 per cent to VNĐ19.7 trillion (US$771.7 million). 

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks in terms of market capitalisation on the southern bourse, also fell by 6.26 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 1.388,64 points.

In the VN30 basket, up to 21 ticker symbols decreased, while seven inched up and two ended flat. 

Investors turned their attention to unloading banking stocks, which led this sector to fall sharply. Major players like VPBank (VPB), MBBank (MBB) and Vietinbank (CTG) all saw declines of over 1.4 per cent, contributing negatively to the VN-Index. 

Real estate stocks also faced heavy selling after Monday's surge. Smaller-cap stocks like Khải Hoàn Land Group (KHG), CEO Group (CEO), Sài Gòn Thương Tín Real Estate (SCR) and Đất Xanh Group (DXS) all shifted from gains to declines of more than 2 per cent. 

Meanwhile, mid-cap and large-cap stocks in this sector, such as Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC), Phát Đạt Real Estate Development (PDR), Novaland (NVL) and Khang Điền House (KHG), also dropped by more than 1 per cent.

The oil and gas sector served as a pillar of support for the VN-Index, with all stocks in this group experiencing price increases. PV Gas (GAS), a stock among the top 10 largest market capitalisations, rose by 1.3 per cent to VNĐ69,100 per share. PV POWER (POW) reached its maximum daily gain of 7 per cent to VNĐ12,900.

SAHABANK (SHB), LPBank (LPB) and Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) also managed to defy the market trend, providing some support to the index and preventing a deeper drop.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index extended rallies to its third straight day. The index closed the day at 247.03 points, up 0.26 points, or 0.11 per cent. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors returned to their selling spree after withdrawing a net value of over VNĐ458.9 billion on the two main exchanges. — BIZHUB/VNS