HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares declined on Tuesday as investors locked in profits following the market’s two-day rally.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange dropped 0.25 per cent to close at 887.44 points.

The southern market index had gained total 1.30 per cent in the previous two trading days since Friday.

In the same period, the HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange was up total 1.40 per cent.

The northern market index lost 0.65 per cent to end Tuesday at 101.27 points.

The stock market opened the day on a positive note but its growth was short-lived on heavy selling pressure, according to Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC).

Financial-banking, consumer staples and retail stocks were among those that suffered from profit-taking pressure.

Insurance, brokerage, banking, consumer staple and retail sector indices were down between 0.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Those are the sectors that had driven the stock market up on Friday and Monday.

Among listed companies in those sectors, shares of Sacombank (STB) fell 1.3 per cent from a two-day gain of 3.6 per cent.

Asia Commercial Bank shares (ACB) edged down 0.7 per cent after having increased by total 2.1 per cent in the previous two sessions.

In the food and beverage industry, dairy producer Vinamilk shares (VNM) retreated 0.8 per cent. It had risen total 6.5 per cent in the previous two sessions.

Other stocks that had the same pattern included Military Bank (MBB), which edged down 0.5 per cent following its two-day growth of 2.4 per cent.

“Investors remained cautious and hesitant over trading amid unclear market trends,” BVSC wrote in its daily report.

“It proves capital has not yet returned to the market and most of investors prefer to stand by to watch,” Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities JSC (SHS) said.

As the development of the stock market remained unclear, investors were leaving the stock market and switched to invest in VN30 futures contracts on the derivatives market, SHS added.

“They are expecting the derivative market will help them earn some profits even when the stock market declines.”

Low liquidity and negative trading breadth remained big challenges for the stock market.

More than 138.5 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ2.97 trillion (US$130.4 million).

The market was consolidating after the VN-Index bounced back from the 885-865 point range, according to BVSC.

“The indicator system shows the market may move sideways with alternate ups and downs in the next sessions,” BVSC said, adding the VN-Index would have the chance to test the 904-908 point range this week. – VNS