HÀ NỘI — Selling force weakened significantly during Tuesday afternoon’s trading session, reducing the downward momentum of shares on both local exchanges.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange lost 1.45 per cent to close at 939.68 points.

The southern market index lost 0.51 per cent to close at 953.51 points on Monday.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange dropped 2.3 per cent to end at 105.07 points.

The northern market index dropped 0.51 per cent to end at 107.55 points on Monday.

Some 260 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ5.7 trillion (US$244 million).

The figures were up 39 per cent in both volume and value from Monday.

Declining stocks dominated the market with total 357 stocks seeing prices fall, while 143 other stocks ended on a positive note.

Poor investor confidence continued to hit stocks on a large scale, led by large-cap ones after the VN30 Index fell 1.23 per cent to 908 points at the end of the session.

Selling pressure occurred during the trading session but decreased towards the last minutes.

Most stock groups slid today. Typically, oil-gas stocks experienced a slump of 2.8 per cent, dragged down by PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR) and PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) which subsequently dropped by 4.6 per cent, 4.0 per cent, 3.5 per cent, and 2.3 per cent.

Bank stocks lost across the board, resulting in a 1.9 per cent drop in the overall banking index. The biggest losers of the banking sector included Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Techcombank (TCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (STB).

Securities fell 2.55 per cent and real estate stocks slid 0.5 per cent.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC), the market may see a “bulltrap” early next session. However, after that, the market may suffer from selling pressure again and fall to the 917-922 support zone.

“In our observation, a number of stocks are withstanding oversold pressure while the market and stocks are seeing positive divergence signals between the price line and technical indicators. Therefore, the market is expected to rebound in this support zone,” BVSC said in its daily report.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) edged down 0.71 per cent to finish at 52.05 points. The unlisted market index dropped 0.09 per cent to finish at 52.42 points in the previous session. — VNS