A view of the Hoa Phat Dung Quat Iron and Steel Integrated Complex. Shares of Hoa Phat Group gained over 0.9 per cent on Wednesday, cushioning the market's downturn. — Photo hoaphat.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The stock market endured another volatile session on Wednesday, with the VN-Index giving up an early gain of more than 17 points and closing in negative territory as selling pressure intensified towards the end of trading.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark fell 3.32 points to 1,827.1 points. It climbed as high as 1,847.58 points in the early trade, up 17.14 points.

The breadth of the market was negative, as the number of decliners surpassed that of gainers by 190 to 120. Liquidity remained subdued, with a trading value of VNĐ14.6 trillion (US$562 million).

The VN30-Index also decreased slightly by 0.88 points to 1,967.64 points. In the VN30 basket, 15 stocks ticked up while 12 went down and three ended unchanged.

Large-cap stocks were sharply divided, with property heavyweights exerting considerable pressure on the VN-Index.

Vingroup (VIC) declined 0.76 per cent, taking approximately 3.05 points off the benchmark and becoming its biggest drag. Vinhomes (VHM) fell 2.04 per cent, costing the index another 2.52 points.

On the positive side, Vinpearl (VPL) advanced 4.12 per cent and contributed about 1.4 points to the VN-Index.

Banking stocks also provided some support. Vietcombank (VCB) rose 1.03 per cent and added 1.05 points to the benchmark, while Techcombank (TCB) gained 1.41 per cent and contributed another 0.68 points.

PV Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) and steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) contributed around 0.66, 0.37 and 0.36 points, respectively.

Similarly, the HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) declined 1.63 points to 279.48 points.

Foreign investors remained net sellers for a third consecutive session, with net selling reaching VNĐ268 billion on HoSE and VNĐ13.1 billion on HNX.

The latest data from the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (VSDC) showed that the number of securities trading accounts continued to increase despite recent market volatility.

By the end of August, the Vietnamese market had 13.89 million securities trading accounts, nearly 230,000 more than at the end of July.

Domestic individual investors accounted for most of the increase. They opened nearly 229,400 new accounts during August, bringing their total to approximately 13.81 million.

Domestic institutional investors added another 153 accounts during the month, taking their total to 20,277. As a result, the combined number of securities accounts held by domestic investors exceeded 13.83 million.

Foreign investors, meanwhile, held 52,633 securities accounts at the end of August, an increase of 227 from the previous month. — BIZHUB/VNS