HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares retreated from recent rallies as investors turned cautious in the last trading weeks before the Tet (Lunar New Year).

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange fell 0.49 per cent to close at 906.55 points – the lowest level recorded during the session.

The southern market index had gained total 1 per cent since last Friday.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange dropped 0.80 per cent to end at 102.54 points.

The northern market index increased by 1.78 per cent on Monday.

The lack of purchasing power was the main reason that caused the market decline on Tuesday, according to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities JSC (SHS).

“We’re two weeks away from the Tet holiday, and sellers seem to overwhelm buyers. That overwhelming sentiment pressured the market and sent the VN-Index to its lowest intraday level.”

The stock market had not really got out of its downtrend since April 2018 and all gaining sessions have been technical and short-lived, SHS said in its daily report.

Selling pressure sent bank and petroleum sectors down. These two sectors were the ones that helped push the local market up in the previous sessions.

Bank and petroleum sector indices lost 0.5 per cent each, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Despite the negative overall performance of the banking sector, some bank stocks still managed to swim against the current.

Eximbank (EIB) and HDbank shares (HDB) gained 6.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively, extending their growth from HoSE’s announcement of their inclusion on the large-cap VN30 Index.

Other declining sector indices included insurance, consumer staples, technology, rubber and construction.

On the other side, securities stocks advanced after listed brokerages reported annual growth in their 2018 earnings.

HCM City Securities Corp (HCM) rose 0.6 per cent after the firm posted a 53 per cent increase in total revenue and a 22 per cent growth rate in post-tax profit.

The figures reached VNĐ2.35 trillion (US$101 million) and VNĐ842 billion in 2018.

In the view of Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC), the market is likely to keep moving sideways with alternate ups and downs in coming trading days.

The market would still see mixed performance among different groups of stocks and the large-caps in the VN30 basket may be more active, it said.

More than 178.4 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ3 trillion. – VNS