A VPBank office in Hà Nội. The bank's shares fell 1.5 per cent on Wednesday as investors started cashing out from banks' stocks following their rallies. — VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Việt

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares struggled on Wednesday as investors began cashing in from large-cap firms following recent rallies.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.05 per cent to close at 982.57 points.

The index was up as much as 0.35 per cent during the day.

The VN-Index soared nearly 1 per cent on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese stock market continued rising on Wednesday but its growth was narrowed towards the end of the day as investors sought profits in groups of stocks which made strong gains recently, MB Securities Co (MBS) said in its daily report.

Banking, real estate and retail were the three sectors hit by selling pressure on Wednesday. Their sector indices dropped between 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Shares of VPBank (VPB) pushed the banking sector down, dropping 1.5 per cent after having risen 1 per cent in the previous two days. The bank shares have advanced total 8.4 per cent in the last one-and-a-half months.

Shares of Vietcombank (VCB) lost 1.3 per cent on Wednesday. Its shares have increased by total 16 per cent in the same period.

Retailer Mobile World (MWG) edged down 0.6 per cent and its shares have gained substantially by 19.5 per cent since early June.

Positive signs were seen as the market’s average price level did not fall and trading liquidity remained high, MBS said.

More than 170 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4.11 trillion (US$176.8 million).

The figure included 142 million shares exchanged via order-matching transactions, worth VNĐ3.37 trillion – the highest in a month.

Foreign investors continued net-buying on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange with a net-buy value of VNĐ212.4 billion.

The selling pressure was expected because large-cap stocks had rallied to their profitability levels, MBS said.

But the market stayed strong as selling was not too strong and trading liquidity was high, proving new money continued looking for opportunities at the moment, the stock brokerage added.

It proved domestic investors were quite upbeat and positive at the moment and it was a decisive factor to drive the market up, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said.

The VN-Index would keep going up to test the 990-1,000 point zone with the divergence among stocks as the earnings season is undergoing, TCSC added.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 0.69 per cent to end at 106.58 points.

The northern market index advanced 0.22 per cent on Tuesday.

More than 41.5 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ644 billion. — VNS